Think Different, Act Different, Be Different

I've just befriended a toilet-cleaner.
She's in her 60s and does a shining job of cleaning toilets in a University Hostel.

But today, she was in a huff and a puff over the gossip, the backbiting, the envy of other fellow cleaners. She was obviously disturbed emotionally ....and verbally!

Yet as I listened to her side of the story, I realised that all she was asking for was RESPECT.
She may be lacking in education, but not in work ethics.
She may be doing menial work, but she takes pride in what she is doing.
She may be getting on in physical age, but she is doing her best to earn an honest living with her declining strength.

The students at the hostel call her "Aunty" --- that gives her 'status'! Often, they buy her packeted food or snacks to eat, and she is touched because that is love in action.
They appreciate her good works and at the end of the day, she is happy and satisfied.

It takes so little for her to have self-respect.
Is it too much then to ask that others respect her ---- a woman who could easily be your grandmother, your mother, my sister, my aunt???