Respecting others and yourself

  Respect is a very significant thing in our lives. Who we respect or are respected by can effect the lives of people around us, as well as in turn what kind of people they will respect. Many are aware that they should be respectful, to each other but unfortunately in the midst of tough times, it becomes increasingly difficult. Back in the early to mid 1900s, this was an issue between black and white people. Blacks were disrespected because of their skin color and portrayed as bad people. In response to this disrespect, some black people decided to treat white people the same mean way they were treated. As a result, many white people feared blacks and avoided them, treating them different than anyone else. 

  In Brent Staple's essay titled 37 Just walk By: Black Men and Public Space, he talks about mainly the fear he saw in white people's faces when he walked by. The first time he noticed this was when he was walking down a stranded street and a woman thought he was following her. He continued to notice this and over time found ways to make them feel more comfortable when he came by. He also described the ways that blacks were portrayed in the media as corrupt which made him have to be very aware of his actions and careful out in public. This in some ways made him feel lower and less respected as a person.

  Also, in the memoir The Color of Water, much of the disrespect blacks and whites had toward each other was shown. When Rachel, the mother of the author of the memoir, was a teenager, she generally didn't fit in because she was a Jew. She often felt disrespected and disliked by white students, but she noticed that most black students didn't judge her. They treated her fairly and kindly, which in turn lead her to gain respect for them and see that they weren't bad people. She eventually married a black man and her family was upset. She lost the respect of many other people simply because the man she married was black. Years later, when on the subway with her dark skinned children, she was insulted by black and white people alike, but she didn't let that bother her. She chose to spend more time with the poor and black people because she knew they wouldn't judge her for who she was.      

  So my question is why is it so often people disrespect or mistreat others? So often people look at ones outward appearance and judge them, choosing to put a label on them, not even making the effort to get to know them. Is out of the fear of being rejected or judged themselves? Yet, doesn't everyone deserve some sort of respect as a human being?