Respect begets respect.
If you want to be respected, you have to learn how to give the respect you wish to get from the world around you. That is, in a perfect world.
There will always be that someone who will not be able to respect who you are as a person in spite of the respect you give him or her. When that does happen, it’s best to keep quiet and continue on your way and let that person go his or her own way as well. But there will be times when you have to speak up, and in my case, that is now.
Yes, in a year and a half I went from being stable to basically having nothing. I have nothing, materially speaking. I have maxed out my savings, I am unable to provide for even my most basic needs, and I live a hand-to-mouth existence, all in pursuit of experience.
But just because I have nothing right now does not give anyone the right to belittle me. To make me feel that I am worth nothing. And while it is true that only you can make yourself feel that, there are some people who will go through any lengths just to make you feel that your place in this world is very low, and that you ought to bow down to all else that money can buy.
I have myself. That is more than enough for me. I have myself, and I have all the talents and the thoughts and the quirks that come with being me. And I can use that to have a better life, and that is exactly what I am doing right now: looking for a better future.
Nobody owns me. That is a fact. That is good enough for me. And because nobody owns me, no one should ever feel like they have every right to put me down just because I’m not in such a good place right now in the eyes of others.
If asking for a little respect makes me crazy, then I am the queen of the loony bin.
