How to Show Respect

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Word of the Week: Respect

how to show respect

The word of the week this week is respect. Respect comes in two forms. Probably, the most common way of thinking about respect is in how you feel about another person, based on their words and deeds. We often say that someone must earn respect. It’s internal, it’s about your feelings. The other form is showing respect in the way you act toward another person. It’s about treating others with dignity and respect, regardless of how you feel about them. This form of respect is external, it’s about how you choose to behave toward others.

Quote of the Week

“You do not have to feel respect for another person to treat them with dignity and respect.” -The Compassionate Geek

For Your Consideration: How to Show Respect

The YouTube viewer commented on my video about how to show respect, “It’s time that all racist flat earthers got that respect everybody else gets!” Wow, I never meant to suggest that we should treat ideas like that with respect. I have a friend who believes the Earth is just a few thousand years old, in spite of the evidence to the contrary. I don’t feel respect for that idea, any more than racism, flat-earth, sexism, or any of the multitude of other far-out beliefs some people harbor. Even though I don’t respect his beliefs, I treat my young-Earther friend with dignity and respect as a human being. If we were to get into a discussion about the age of the Earth, I would definitely talk about things like carbon-dating, but I would definitely not call him names nor treat him in any other condescending or demeaning manner. If he were to get pushy on the subject, I might choose to disassociate with him. I’ve certainly cut off relationships with people who spouted hateful and hurtful ideas, but I try not to let myself get pulled down into the mud, mire, and muck with such people by responding in kind. I try to hold myself to a higher standard and encourage others to do the same. In his wonderful book Man’s Search for Meaning, author Viktor Frankl says the real measure of a person is not in their accomplishments, but in their ability to act with dignity and respect in the face of undignified and disrespectful circumstances. In fact, the fifth of the five principles of IT customer service is to show respect to others as fellow humans. You can show respect by using your manners, saying please and thank you, by not engaging in name-calling, or yelling. We model the behavior in ourselves that we want from others. When you hold yourself to a higher standard, there’s no guarantee that others will do the same, but they might! Want to know more? Check out this blog post on respect.

How to show respect is part of Compassionate Geek on-demand IT customer service training. You can review the course description and outline at this link.

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