I am extremely fortunate to have talked with two very successful people of late. (You’ll read more about them in the coming weeks and months.) One key point that came out in both of my interviews with them is:
Every person you meet deserves your respect and to be treated right.
A moving and poignant column I read this morning by “Toledo Free Press” Editor in Chief Michael Miller really hit home that point.
Read Miller’s column for yourself.
In a nutshell, he talks about a high school classmate that he didn’t really know, but on the outside: “stuttered and stammered and said wildly inappropriate things. He may have been autistic; I do not know. I never asked.”
Recently, Miller learned what this person went on to accomplish, but died in May 2005.
“A filmmaker, cartoonist and music critic? A master’s degree? Two brothers who died before him? I learned more about Dennard in that paragraph, more than a year after his death, than I ever knew about him in the three years I took classes with him.
And I feel exceptionally guilty about that. I feel ashamed.”
Everyone — young or old, strong or weak, rich or poor, no matter their race or their background or their health or infirmity — is more than what you see and hear on the outside. Don’t dehumanize anyone. There is so much more inside a person.
Inquire, ask and learn from everyone you meet.
– Mike
