Today I learned about attracting respect. I was walking on the sidewalk and I saw someone else coming in my direction. I quickly moved to the shoulder of the sidewalk where the cars driving. I then noticed the other guy did the same. I read this as a challenge to my position but that wasn’t going to happen. So as we walked closer and closer to each other I stared him down and right before we bumped into each other he moved out of my way but gave me a shoulder bump I’m passing. He then turned around and said “Excuse you.” With a look expecting me to excuse myself. Unfortunately for him I did not. I just walked off. Something told me that he was going to follow me as I turned the corner so I braved myself for the worst. When my prediction prove correct and he met me facing towards him he tried to intimidate me by pretending he had a gun in his pocket. I looked at his pocket and saw nothing. I saw that all he wanted to do was save his ego so I called him “brother”’as a means of communicating that he was my equal. The last thing he said was “I don’t want to see you around here again.” Then he walked off. That interaction reminded me of how most of us are starving for respect. That interaction showed me that the best way to get respect was to attract it. By attracting respect I mean by conducting oneself in a way that an objective person would deem that behavior respectful. Attracting respect means that one understands that it can always be rebuilt through one’s own actions. I think this idea is beneficial because it means that you don’t have to put people down to have other people’s approval. It means you observe your behavior and be objective. You ask yourself “If somebody did what you just did would you respect them?” The downside to this idea is that it takes longer to attract people respect. No one is perfect, there are going to be times where I do things I’m not proud of. It takes constant effort to behave in a way in which the objective person who deem respectful. But it’s better than the alternative. Buying respect only works in the shortterm. Forcing respect is likely to backfire. Genuine effort and patience are things that garner the respect of the objective mind. Nelson Mandela’s father was always the last to speak when gathered with his fellow tribesman.