Thankful For Respect

Every Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember, I find myself thinking about who and what I respect and whether I am respected, or not. This Thanksgiving is no different for me. In fact, even though the holiday becomes more commercialized every year, when I gather with family and friends, I still find myself being genuinely introspective and wanting to declare what I’m grateful and thankful for in a public way. I suspect many of you feel the same.

From where I sit as the Executive Director of the Center for Respectful Leadership, I see many things worthy of respect: nations trying to come together to stand united against a brutal, destructive bully; Republicans, Independents and Democrats of every voting generation coming together to say an emphatic “No!” to delusional fabulists, fascists, haters, and threats to personal liberty and democracy; and a growing awareness all over the world that there really is a serious climate crisis and that we must do our best to come together and do something to mitigate the damage and help each other out.

So, what am I most thankful and grateful for this Thanksgiving? That respect is still valued; that people everywhere are doing their best to respect others in a world where so many are being disrespected, attacked, assaulted, and yes, even killed because they are considered “different,” inferior, in the minority, or outside of the so-called “norm or “mainstream.”

Without respect, relationships sour and we fall apart. Avoidance and conflict almost always follow. So, this Thanksgiving, I am truly grateful that there are so many of you who still have respect for respect. I appreciate you, I thank you and I wish you a very happy, safe and respectful Thanksgiving.

by Gregg Ward | Executive Director - The Center for Respectful Leadership