There is this unspoken rule that those higher than you in authority or position should be respected automatically. I want to challenge this and challenge I must.

Let’s take two different job positions: janitor of a high school & a principal of a high school.

Most students fear their principal due to punishment and teachers and faculty respect the principal. However, if the principal is unethical, rude, and pompous in attitude… should they have that automatic respect because of their entitlement? Answer is to most people: well, yeah they’re still the principal. My answer: Absolutely not.

As for the janitor, their job description doesn’t tell them that they have to have e certain personality (kindness, respect, etc.) to work in that job. However, this is true for a principal in some senses as well. But if the janitor is kind and respectful to students, he/she has earned respect from others even though he/she doesn’t necessarily have to carry out being kind and respectful to others (going out of their way to make others feel good, happy, etc.). As a principal, if you cannot respect your students, teachers, faculty/staff members you don’t automatically get respect, you must EARN it.

Basically, you can be the most famous person on this planet or the most powerful person on this planet but you will NOT have my respect until you earn it. It’s not a given. We need to stand up to rudeness, inequality, and disrespect when it is shown, regardless of whom is displaying those attitudes.

R E S P E C T 

Dana Barakat