People use "respect" in different ways. Some people use it to mean "I will treat you like a fellow human being - I will not shame you or put you down, you are due all the same things that I am." Other people use "respect" to mean "show deference." They mean that showing respect is recognizing that the person is held in higher esteem than the average person and is due more consideration. This is the type of "respect" people imply when they say "respect your elders" or "respect is earned." These different intents cause all the confusion with the sayings "respect is earned" / "respect is given."

by Anonymous 2 weeks ago

i don't get showing deference

by Anonymous 2 weeks ago

Deference basically means showing that you respect and understand another persons position or authority. In the military we defined it as: "you don't have to respect the person but you have to respect their rank"

by Educational-Tie-9135 2 weeks ago

that's why i'm not in the military. rank means nothing to me

by Anonymous 2 weeks ago

👍

by Anonymous 2 weeks ago

I think I agree. Anyone or anything, I have a baseline of 0, and from there, the person or company, can earn or lose respect, i'm trying to be respectful to others, and if they are to, then they earn some respect, but if they don't then they lose some. So if my neighbor honks their horn every morning (6 in the morning) they drive to work, then I lose some, as thats not respecting other people and their sleep, yes my neighbor does this, im awake, so it doesn't affect me, but there is lots of people with kids nearby, who is not up at 6. So in short, i'm always trying the be respectful to others, they might start at 0, but that doesn't mean i'm not going to show respect to them.

by montana39 2 weeks ago

Agree 100%

by rosie61 2 weeks ago

Yeah I agree. Saying respect is earned is some elitist nonsense

by hermanjana 2 weeks ago

I think you are confusing respect with kindness.

by Anonymous 2 weeks ago

I think that being kind to people is respectful and that respect is different than seeing someone as an authority figure.

by ella 2 weeks ago