At your age and for most of my life I was crippled by neurosis, full of shame, no self respect, guilty for being alive, the benefit of of the doubt afforded to everybody else but never for me. Been there. Done it. Get out. Please. Put a stop to it. Whatever it takes. Nobody else can do it for you. --- RH.
Quite frankly, respect should be based purely on achievement. I'm obviously going to fucking respect a fifth grader with a PhD unravelling the mysteries everpresent in theoretical physics. In contrast, I wouldn't give a shit about some 50 year old idiot sitting on the curb waiting for enough money to get his next shot.
I 'have' respect for no-one. I 'show' respect for all people with whom I interact, in one form or another. I feel that I can, therefore, demand respect in return. Should you feel that showing respect is unnecessary, I would simply remove you from my world. I show enough respect 'for myself' not to allow disrespect toward me. Oddly enough, I find instances of disrespect quite rare and even then, inadvertant. One thing I found most 'unfair' when I was young, was all the disrespect and dismissiveness simply due to my age. As young as two I felt it. A child just isn't as 'good' as an adult(eration!). Needless to say, my children have grown in an atmosphere of mutual respect. I think they appreciate it. Actually, it seems that respect is so rare, that when you actually 'show' respect, people are either grateful or stunned or both. Does 'respect' mean not making me have to listen to your stereo system? It it a matter of 'respect' for me not to poison your environment with my newest, biggest SUV? Bye the bye, isn't the "Golden Rule" describing 'respect'? "Do not do unto others what you would not have done unto you"?
