People earn respect through kindness and compassion for others. They don’t get respect through slander, bigotry, ignorance, and/or terror. They get fear, which is much less powerful and lasting than respect. If you truly deserve respect, you wouldn’t consider doing something drastic enough to lose the respect of a significant amount of people. Not everyone will respect you and that is okay. But terror is not limited to threats or physical violence, regardless of reason or victims. There are other forms of harm, and those who openly suggest that they will enact harm (including neglect) cannot and will not gain my respect.
If we are friends, you have my respect. If you don’t have my respect, I will give you the knowledge, power, and skills to earn it, but it is up to you to utilize them. If you don’t want to, that is your choice that you are entitled to. 🙂
If you want to be a great and effective leader, you need respect. No matter what your policies are, positive influential tactics are much more effective and, for crying out loud, so much easier to gain the respect of your own country as well as those in the world. Leaders, actually everyone, who use any trace of threats or negative actions out of anger, ignorance, and hatred regardless of reasons cannot and will not gain my respect, and therefore support. I always give people the benefit of the doubt, and treat others with compassion. I feel sorry and ashamed for the people who can see past that or can see it but choose to ignore.
The World Unfiltered 