Respect and Perhaps Pain

If I respect others (Women, People of Color, Differently Abled People, Children, Iraqi's, Iranians, or even others whose political beliefs are different than mine) I must listen to their voices and really hear them as individual people. To respect them I Acknowledge that they have Feelings. To respect them I readily see that they are "important" just as my family and friends are "important".

When I am hurting, my pain may affect how I respond to others. IF I let this Pain excuse how I treat others in negative ways, I may Not Respect Others. To do this I also do Not Respect Myself.

There is a big difference between expressing our hurts, our pain, our anger and more and Not respecting Others. Feeling Angry or Hurt by the words and actions of Others does Not justify losing respect.

It can be difficult to respect Others (e.g. Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or Americans such as Glenn Beck or for some Barack Obama). When we let our feelings related to our Perceptions of the actions of such people to allow us to lose Respect for them, they often are no longer "human" or even "real" to us as individual people.

I can not suggest that we "love" everyone! When we don't respect those we perceive as our "enemies", we can lose layers of our own humanity. Channeling our fears and anger is important. Confronting Racism, Sexism, Militarism and "rude behavior" is important. How we do it can affect others around us as well as how we are as individual people.

Thanks!