On June 19, 2012 I was 79 years old, and starting to live my 80th year. I decided to write down Things I Have Learned So Far:
7. Respect
I believe that respect for persons is probably next to love. I think it’s important to respect adults, even those you disagree with. I think it’s also important to respect children.
And I think that this was one of the significant things that Jesus did. I think no matter how ostracized a person was, how low on the social ladder that person was, no matter how the culture classified the person, Jesus treated each of those categories of persons with respect.
Years ago I read a book by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot called “Respect.” She said that there were six windows on respect—empowerment, healing, dialogue, curiosity, self-respect, and attention.
The three parts of respect for me that I’ve learned so far are:
Take seriously.
Listen carefully.
And love.
