Posts Tagged: Antoine de Saint-Exupery

“The Word of the Year: Respect”

On January 1, 2023 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

As many of you know, I have for several years been taking a word or short phrase as my mantra for the year. This year’s word is “respect”.

Actually, I checked to see how many times in the past I had written about respect in one way or another on this website. My search turned up 36 times that I had used the word “respect” as one of my tags. Apparently, respect is important to me. I suspect that I am not alone in this respect.

Respect has a lot of different aspects. Here is a short list:

  • Respect for God.
  • Respect for other people.
  • Respect for myself.
  • Respect for time—my own time and that of others.
  • Respect for all sentient beings.
  • Respect for immaterial things, including the planet.

We sometimes speak of “simple respect”. Perhaps respect is fairly simple to understand. Consistently speaking and acting in a respectful manner is not so simple, however. But, as with many things, respect is a muscle. It can atrophy, but it can also be toned up with use. I plan to work on this muscle in the year 2023.

So, expect some more posts (not all, thankfully) about respect in the year 2023. The post for tomorrow will deal with one of the words that the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament uses for honor or respect. For now, I leave you with the following quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupery:

“I have no right, by anything I do or say, to demean a human being in his own eyes. What matters is not what I think of him; it is what he thinks of himself. To undermine a man’s self-respect is a sin.”

, , , ,
Follow on Feedly