Respect– the Missing Factor
There was a time that Governor Andrew Cuomo was the world’s hero, showing leadership when all of us needed it during the depths of the COVID nightmare. But today he is a pariah.
Whether or not Governor Cuomo went beyond legal bounds is not the point. The point, even if we were to believe a fraction of what we read, is that Andrew Cuomo treated vulnerable young women with less than the respect they deserved.
Respect is a funny thing, and it’s always in the hands of the more powerful player. That I can loom large above you and attempt to sway your choice by fear or by favour is the very reason that I must show you respect. It’s a matter of responsibility and maturity.
It’s easy enough to show respect to a superior, in fact, it’s usually beneficial. But the real test of character is showing respect to those who work for us, who depend on us, who must accept what we dish out.
If I use my position of authority, power, and wealth to coerce you to do things for me that you are ordinarily loath to do, then I show you disrespect. If I ask an employee to give me more than an honest day for an honest dollar, as the saying goes, I show disrespect. If I flirt with a young woman hoping that I will “get lucky”, I show her disrespect, not to mention towards the spouse to whom I pledged my sole and eternal allegiance.
The fabric of our society and our democracy is created entirely out of our respect for one another, particularly toward those who are vulnerable to us. It’s perhaps what Jesus was trying to tell us when he said, “Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of these little ones, ye have done it unto me.”
In our analysis of our leaders, Liberals or Conservatives, Republicans or Democrats, atheists, Catholics, or Christian Fundamentalists, there really is an easy test: does the individual consistently show the kind of respect you would want to receive if you were vulnerable to them?