Truth about Respect

Truth about Respect

Respect for someone is the acceptance of him for all he is, including his shortfalls. Many have gone down from deserved places due to unacceptance by those around. It is they that accept and adapt to the unforeseen that emerge as oceans, the others end up as dried up rivulets. – Swami Gururatna Gnanathapaswi.
Acceptance or the lack of it has pulled down countless lives. Even with attributes that are needed for success, just the lack of acceptance by others, including your family, friends and society can pull a person down. Respect that you show someone has to encompass his shortcomings too. Respect often places a person on a pedestal and pulls him down the moment his shortfalls are seen.
No one is perfect. Every person has in him attributes that are good or not so good. You can never be Mr Perfect, none of us. Those that succeed are those who either are good at hiding the not so good and highlighting their strengths before others. Such people always have a side of themselves that is always hidden from others. In reality, they wouldn’t even be averse to hiding it from themselves if they could.
However there are others, who put no masks. They are forthright and put up their real self for judgement. The strengths of these people are, the respect the gain is always based on real attributes and their weaknesses never hidden. The respect and acceptance are despite their weaknesses. Hence they never lose the respect they gain.
Hiding ones weaknesses to gain respect is a failure in itself. The fact that you have to keep hiding pulls you back and eventually down. That then is the power of truth.