BestMost

An interesting question came to my mind as I was reading the other day:

Do the people that know me the best respect me the most?

That’s an interesting question when we reflect on the number of high profile and public figures in history who had sparkling public reputations but were held in disdain by the people closest to them.  We can easily think of leaders of high regard who, in private, engaged in hateful treatment of others, who spoke disparagingly of opponents, who connived to undercut or ruin those who disagreed with them.  It is not hard to conjure up memories of ministers whose private lives were not at all aligned to the values they preached from the pulpit.  I imagine that every one of us can think of a boss in our past (or present) whose public personae was sparkling, but whose words/deeds behind closed doors revealed a far less attractive character.

The issue at hand can be captured in a couple of words, I think - integrity and authenticity.  Those two words speak directly to the level of alignment between our true beliefs/values and the way we manifest those beliefs/values every moment of our lives (not just when "on the stage").  

So, the question begs:  

Do the people that know me the best respect me the most?