“He who has self-respect has a fine contempt for whatever is low, petty, mean, or vulgar. He is like a modern elevator with an automatic safety clutch; if he does drop, he cannot fall far. He quickly stops himself. No matter what the provocation, how deep the cause for righteous anger, he will never humiliate another unjustly, he will never speak mean, contemptible words that bite deep into memory like acid into an etching plate. For the petty satisfaction of self-vindication he would never plant tares in the field of another’s reputation.” ~ William George Jordan
Self-respect affords you, as Mr. Jordan put it, “an automatic safety clutch.” You may feel ill things well up in you and sense their pull on your heartstrings, but when you have built up a measure of self-respect, you don’t succumb to the siren’s call. Moreover, when you have self-respect, you are much less likely to have to spend time justifying reactions that weren’t warranted had you been in your right mind.
Self-respect is fortified by taking the high road. It is also one of the fundamental building blocks of character that lead you to take the high road. The good news is that you build self-respect in the little things as well as the large. Be mindful of the little opportunities in your day to overcome the petty reactions that fritter away your good name… and your good sense!
Gregory Hake 
Our lives tend to turn on the choices we make along the lines of what you summarize here. Petty or generous? Vindictive or forgiving? Arbitrary or reasonable? These are always forks in the road, whether or not the implications are immediately obvious. The importance of developing the habits of integrity can’t be overemphasized.
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Self-respect and self-discipline go hand in hand. When both of these qualities become a part of your character, that’s real power.
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I find that one of the most expedient ways to lose your good name is to run your mouth just as a habit. Part of having self respect is realizing that what you contribute should be of value, and that includes regular day-to-day conversations. This is part of the safety mechanism, as it’s hard to take the high road when you do not have conscious control that you are making a choice at all.
Initially, we all have to make sure that we use our brain to mouth filter, with the eventual outcome that the thoughts that we have been filtering from our speech never enter our heads to begin with.
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There sure are plentiful little opportunities in our day to day ongoings that turn out to have enormous consequences in our character. A good sign that something is ready for change is when you feel a resistance to doing something that would be proper for you to do, and of course, with decency. Confrontations are a great way to practice handling problems without losing decency and dignity – basic self-respect. All good elements of character come in to play when something is dealt with decently and with dignity. You’ll certainly learn how much self-control you are capable of, plus you’ll soon realize too that all this is directly in proportion to how your world grows – your world expands or collapses on the basis of these inner qualities and values.
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“For the petty satisfaction of self-vindication he would never plant tares in the field of another’s reputation.” Today they call it “throwing someone under the bus”. It’s a great question to ask ourselves along with taking note of the point at which this sellout tends to occur. Thanks, Gregg.
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Your wise words and Mr. Jordan’s could be a lesson taught early in childhood. Reactionary behavior lays the foundation for vindictiveness, spite and onto malice. At first there is a prickly reaction to accompany any feeling that even hints of affront and not having the protection that self respect affords us, the person starts to build defenses of mean spirited offensiveness. Living on the bottom floor gives the view that most every one is oppressing them. It’t true! When you live in the lowest rung of your nature everything and everyone is above you. Moving up in the world is clearly a moment by moment choice that becomes your habit. The high road comes with the protection and security of self respect, a gift of the altitude. Great post, thankyou.
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