my partner, John, is a Buddhist and we were talking about oneof the central messages for him of Buddhism - respect - not just for authority but for people who most people don't respect.
It reminded me of a story in one of Bernie Siegel's books. Bernie is an oncologist and has some amazing stories to tell about people can control their blood pressure etc. even under full anasthesia by him simply asking them to do it during an operation, but the story that's really stayed with me on a personal level is the stiory of an old tramp who came to see him. He was smelly and generally unsavoury - Bernie searched for soemthing to overcome his distaste for the man, and noticed that the man's shoe laces were tied really neatly. He used this as a lever in his mind to give the man respect. The man came back a few weeks later and told Bernie that their meeting had turned him round, because Bernie was the first person who'd shown him any respect in a long time - he was now beginning to sort out his life.
