Respect

One of the reasons why our world is in the shape that it is currently in is because of the misconception of the meaning of "Respect." We have defined respect in such a way that it meets up to our standards.
I remember one Sunday afternoon, when I was about sixteen years old, I was talking to one of my counselors and we were just joking around. I made a statement that changed the whole mood of the setting. "You have to earn my respect"; Oh boy, if you guys know Sis. John, then you know she got me real good. Immediately after I made that comment, she sat me down and explained in detail what respect really means.

In the Bible God created Adam from the dust of the ground in the image of God. Every human-being from the past, the present and the future comes from Adam. All of us are just like Adam, we mess up.
However, our world has defined "respect":
* As something that we have to "earn" from others.
* As something that you give to receive (you give respect to get respect).
There are many more definitions of respect that we use to meet our standards.

Brice Point: None of us come from dogs or even monkeys. Which means that I'm not going to treat anyone like a dog or a monkey nor will I settle for doggish treatments. I'm going to treat everyone with respect for the simple fact that he/she comes from the same "dust" that I came from. There isn't any such thing of "I have to give respect to get respect." We should all respect one another due to the fact that we all are human-beings. There should be a LEVEL of respect because we all comes from dust.

Some believe, because they are so accomplished that "little people" need to earn their respect. Now, I'm not speaking in terms of authority over individuals (For example: Students must submit to teachers authority), I'm speaking of those who tell other human-beings that "I'm successful and in order for you to shake my hand, you will have to prove that your worthy of shaking my hand."
Yeah, one maybe more accomplished than the other, but WE ALL ARE FROM DUST!

Remember, Adam sinned against God. All of us has sinned against God in some form or fashion. Sometimes we forget that we are not perfect. How? We make statements such as "I can't stand him/her", "I have no respect for him/her", "I've lost all my respect for him/her" and much more. Have we forgotten that there was a time when we did something wrong against God? What if God decided to treat us the way we treat others?
I stop saying "I can't stand him/her." Why? Because who an individual is is an application of the lesson that they learned from past mistakes. When we come across those who dislike us, let them know that "I just can't help yourself, I come from Adam."

"Who we are today is applications of the lessons that we learned from yesterdays mistakes" ~ S. J Brice

All us came from Adam, Adam came from the dust of the ground. That means, we all have dusty character traits. We all have something within our personality that we need to dust off.
So respect all because all came from dust. Let's make this world a better place, and it starts with you.

Peace ~ S.J Brice


Genesis 2:7 "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils that breath of life; and man became a living being."