Command, don't demand respect

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Giving respect without feeling it inside is pretentious.

Insisting on such respect is false pride

Respect is a funny concept. All around us, we see people

demanding/giving respect for all the wrong reasons. In your family,

respect your elders whether or not they deserve it. At school/college, respect your teachers, doesn't matter if they can't teach anything. At work, respect your seniors, regardless of how competent they are. Showing respect is different from feeling respect. The former is a conceited attempt, used, or perhaps misused, for political or selfish gains. The latter is a naturally occurring phenomenon, inspired by legitimate appreciation of the other's talent, quality or attitude. Genuine respect is felt inside. It is earned by living a life that inspires and motivates. It is objective and unbiased. But, it is not demanded. Yet, we find our elders, seniors, and superiors insisting that we respect them? The truth is that respect has nothing to do with age and seniority. In fact, it is possible that we may respect many people who are lesser than us in age, experience, or status. Sometimes, people curb their expression of respect, again for the wrong reasons. Bosses don't "show" their respect to their subordinates, fathers to their sons, teachers to their students, and husbands to their wives, because they feel that doing so would lessen their authority. But respect feeds on respect. When we show genuine respect, the other respects us for our honesty and confidence.

Yes, showing genuine respect to others implies that we are confident of ourselves to feel secure and therefore we can let the others know that we respect them. This brings us to self-respect. Commanding our own respect is most important. Self-respect is a necessary condition to give and receive respect. We can't give away what we don't have. And we can't expect others to respect us if we don't respect ourselves. So command, don't demand respect!