Name: Respect Isn’t Earned the Way You Think It Is
Uploaded: 2026-01-31T21:01:10.000Z
Duration: 1 min 36 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

So how do you show respect to someone who hasn't earned it?

Modal verbs - A2

Well, before we can answer that question,

To-infinitive

I think it helps to admit something that most people probably won't say out loud.

Even though most of us probably can't define what respect is for us personally.

But we certainly know what it feels like to be disrespected.

And this is why I think it's so helpful to have a definition for respect that we can actually measure people against.

This concept of owed respect and earned respect.

It's not a reward, though, which means it's the kind of respect you give because of who you are,

Sometimes it's tied to a person's job title or their role.

But beneath all of that is a commitment to honor and decency from you.

In other words, you can show respect and still not have trust.

Now, earned respect is on a different level because it can be leveraged against you.

See, earned respect turns into trust, influence and access.

And because of that, everyone can get it.

This level of respect is for people whose character, their consistency and care has proven itself over time.

And where we get hurt is when we mix these levels.

It's when we give trust and access to people who haven't earned it.

Or the opposite, when we withhold respect for others, but we demand it for ourselves.

So the real work is in knowing the difference between owed respect and earned respect.

You give everyone the respect they are owed.

But, you reserve earned respect for those few whose lives have shown that they can be trusted to hold it.