R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I've started reading 5 Minds for the Future, by Howard Gardner, a Harvard professor and world-renowned intellectual. In the book, he describes five essential "minds," or mental attributes, that will become increasingly valuable as society moves forward. One of these "minds" is respect.

Here's an excerpt:

"Turning to respect, whether I am (or you are) writing, researching, or managing, it is important to avoid stereotyping or caricaturing. I must try to understand other persons on their own terms, make an imaginative leap when necessary, seek to convey my trust in them, and try so far as possible to make common cause with them and to be worthy of their trust.

"This stance does not mean that I ignore my own beliefs, nor that I necessarily accept or pardon all that I encounter. (Respect does not entail a "pass" for terrorists.)

"But I am obliged to make the effort, and not merely to assume that what I had once believed on the basis of scattered impressions is necessarily true. Such humility may in turn engender positive responses in others."

-Howard Gardner, 5 Minds for the Future

I love this. I believe it. It's something that so many struggle with, but I feel it's one thing that comes naturally to me.

And I loved this part: "I must try to understand other persons on their own terms."

To respect someone does not necessarily mean you honor or revere them. It just means you see them as an equal, as a person, and not as a stereotype or caricature. And it really can make a huge difference in how you see/interact with the world around you.