Here’s one of the struggles I have in life: offering respect to someone who doesn’t offer it to themselves.

I realize that “respect” is a fluffy word, meaning it has different meanings to different people. Here’s what it means to me: recognizing something as a treasure and treating it that way.

There are no perfect people and we all have flaws. It’s when we accentuate one of those flaws and maximize it that disrespect comes into play, at least for me.

I’m sure we can all think of a time we acted rudely. Perhaps we were having a bad day and reacted poorly. If it’s an infrequent occurrence, we can give ourselves a pass. If it comes up as often as the sun, we’re being disrespectful of others.

If you’re consistently doing something to the detriment of your physical or mental well-being, you’re being disrespectful to yourself.

Again, I recognize this as my struggle. I’m searching for the milk of human kindness but haven’t yet found it for a person immersed in disrespect.

Generally I find this type of person either doesn’t recognize or denies being disrespectful.

If, after becoming aware of their level of disrespect, they choose to ignore it, they become part of the denying crowd. The deniers make up the bulk of the people I find disrespectful, especially to themselves.

I recognize not finding respect for these folks is my flaw and I can only tell you it’s a work in progress for me.

I’ll let you know how I make out. Perhaps if I play the Aretha Franklin song on repeat on my iPhone, I’ll get what I claim I don’t deserve – R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

All the best,

John