#WQWWC # 10 Respect, Courtesy
Definition: Respect: a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements. Due regard for the feelings, wishes, rights, or traditions of others.
Join in with Writer’s Quotes Wednesdays
It’s easy to participate in #WQWWC. Find a quote. Write about it any way the quote moves you. Post it with a link to this post. Easy peasy!
“If you treat people with dignity, respect and friendliness, you can turn enemies into friends. An enemy is nothing but a friend in disguise
Ted Turner
My Response to This Quote
Here’s a quote that I like and have found to be true in most instances, though not everyone will forgive you if you don’t treat them with respect even if you apologize (and MEAN it). It is tough to associate with people whom you don’t respect, but it has to be done. Usually I can find some part of the person’s character or actions to respect.
When I insult someone with my lack of respect, I step back and try to see things from their point of view, but it doesn’t always work. If I’m not being too stubborn, my best course of action is to apologize if I feel I am wrong, with sincerity, courtesy and friendliness. I take steps to amend my ways so that I don’t repeat the offense. Sometimes it takes years before the rightness of their view or wrongness of mine hits me. Years later I usually will concede that their offense or view did not warrant my bad behavior.
When someone has shown that they don’t respect me, I don’t berate them (at least to their face – that’s what my journal is for. I’m not into fist fights) Rarely do I try to change their opinion. I simply avoid them.
My argument with this quote is that if you really don’t respect a person, why would you want to try to turn them into a friend?
The Author of the Quote
Sometimes I find quotes, but don’t know too much about the person who said it. Take Ted Turner, for example. He’s a household name. Here are some facts that I didn’t know about Ted that make me look stupider than dirt, or sadly disinterested.
He’s a philanthropist from Georgia whose father left him one million dollars before committing suicide. Ted took that one million, founded CNN and TBS, bought the Atlanta Braves, and the World Wrestling Championship Wrestling and made many other major investments. By the beginning of the pandemic Turner was worth 2.1 billion dollars after he gave away billions of dollars over the years to his worthwhile causes.
But there must be more to Ted than his bottom line. He’s been married and divorced three times and has five children. He seems to thrive on controversy and competition. He and Fox News owner, Rupert Murdock had a running battle full of angry words. “In 2003, Turner challenged Murdoch to another fistfight…” According to the article in Wikipedia, he said that things changed in 2019 and that they were friendly. That’s a pretty long grudge.
Turner was expelled from college, but nearly thirty years later received an honorary degree from his Alma Mater. He was “suspended for one year by Commissioner of Baseball Bowie Kuhn on January 3, 1977, for his actions…” None of that slowed him down. He has received at least seventeen prestigious awards since 1984. In my opinion he would have been an expert candidate for a quote about persistence, WQWWC #7.
Turner hasn’t always been respectful and courteous. It was reported in the New York Times that he “once called observers of Ash Wednesday ‘Jesus freaks’ and Christianity as a ‘religion for losers…’ and dubbed opponents of abortion ‘bozos.’” He later apologized and donated money through various church organizations to fight malaria. I don’t know if Christians or the churches that represented them forgave him and accepted his apology, but some of them accepted his money. I also don’t know if he changed his opinion about Christianity.
Most people respect someone who has been successful in their life, and Ted Turner has demonstrated that he knows how to make things happen. If you respect only those who respect others, or even limit your respect to those who respect you, you might not choose to quote Ted Turner on the topic of respect.
I’ll leave that decision to you.
Other Quotes About Respect
“One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.“
Bryant H. McGill
“Keep in mind that the true measure of an individual is how he treats a person who can do him absolutely no good.“
Ann Landers
“The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all others, charity.“
Benjamin Franklin
“Respect for ourselves guides our morals, respect for others guides our manners.”
Laurence Sterne
Check Out This Post from Last Week’s Topic, Trustworthiness
Attention Photographers
A friend of mine, Frank, is looking for photographers to collaborate with him on his website. He writes but wants to promote your photographs. It’s a great opportunity for fun and exposure. Contact him here. Collaborators – Beach Walk Reflections: Thoughts from thinking while walking (wordpress.com).
Announcements
- This month our Story Chat of “A Post Card from the Past” by Anne Goodwin comes out Friday
- Don’t forget about the Sue Vincent Rodeo Classic at Carrot Ranch. The contest will close at midnight on Friday, February 19th, 2021. Winning entries will be announced and read at CarrotRanch.com/blog on March 22, 2021. Top entries published at Carrot Ranch. We will not accept entries previously published (even if published on your own blog), so keep them tucked away for now.
- Frank at Beach Walk Reflections will host next week’s #WQWWC topic, Love.
I look forward to reading what you have to say on the subject. Talk to me!
Marsha Ingrao - Always Write 
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