Well gee, of course I know what respect means. I guess I made my comment because, until then, I'd forgotten that the "fear" meaning is ALSO valid, probably older, and usually learned earlier. Ever remember "respect your elders"? It sure wasn't just young blacks men who first used respect to mean "be polite to that person OR ELSE."

I'm sort of wondering about ways to convince people that self-respect is more important than immediate peer acceptance or approval. Occasionally, it isn't. I'm not really sure I'll think of anything. If anyone wants to bounce any ideas off me, perhaps e-mail is better than this forum -- it's easier to quote other people in e-mail. I'm at: folkie@bigfoot.com. We could CC: copies to everyone who wanted to listen in.