Self-Respect

“Respect yourself and others will respect you.” Confucius


What does self-respect actually mean? Does it have anything to do with reputation
or self-esteem?


Contrary to what most people know, “respect” and “self-respect” are two different
terms. People usually have misconceptions about these two different ideas. Actually these terms are total opposites of each other. “Respect” is a term depending on other people’s thoughts and their approach. But as it can obviously be seen “self-respect” is something that’s about the thoughts and approach of a person to his or her self. As a result, self-respect and respect are complete opposites, similar to the concept of “individual vs. society.”


Respect is something that is hard to earn, yet very easy to lose. To earn someone’s respect, first you have to respect yourself. If you don’t even have that, why should “others” respect you? In this short time period we call ”life”, everything is requited, which is why people who do not respect themselves will not be respected
by others.


Being respectful to yourself starts with being honest to yourself. I believe honesty is one of the most important character traits. Honesty brings reliability and reliability brings trust when you are interacting with other people. Accepting one’s own faults is something that can be defined as divine. Only people who have self-respect can accept their own faults. People who have bad reputation, otherwise known as people who are notorious can also have self-respect, meaning, even convicts, gangsters and mafias can have self-respect. As long as one accepts his or her own fault, they can be considered having self-respect.


Even criminals want to be respected by the people around them, who are usually
others in their ward. As a matter of fact, they are obsessed with the term “respect”. They can have bad reputation, but, at the end of the day, they are still very much honest to themselves and they accept their faults, in order to be respected by others in the community they belong to.


I can say that I have self-respect without any hesitation. I’m generally honest to myself. By “generally” I mean as long as I am okay with the situation or the consequences. I believe, and know, that being honest about something is the first
and also the best thing to do. I’m aware that I cannot run away from the truth nor can I hide the truth. This way of thinking helps me with being honest to myself,

which evidently brings self-respect.