Funny how people can treat you differently when they find out how much you earn.
Yesterday, you were just another person in the room. Today, you have money, a better position, a little recognition, and suddenly your opinions matter. People listen a little longer. They smile a little wider. Even the way they greet you seems different.
Interesting, isn't it?
Nobody wants to admit that money and status influence how people treat others. We prefer to believe that we respect people for their character, their values and the way they carry themselves. But look around. Sometimes, all it takes is a fancy title or an expensive lifestyle for someone to receive the respect that another person has been denied for years.
And what about those who have neither fame nor fortune?
Are they less deserving of basic courtesy? Does someone need to prove their financial worth before they deserve to be heard?
I don't think so.
What bothers me is not that successful people receive attention. They may have worked incredibly hard for what they have, and they deserve recognition for their achievements. The problem begins when we confuse someone's financial success with their human worth.
A cleaner deserves respect. A security guard deserves respect. The person struggling to build a business deserves respect. So does the person who has nothing impressive to show the world except an honest heart and a willingness to treat others well.
Respect should not be a membership perk for the wealthy.
But perhaps some experiences are necessary. Sometimes, you need to see how people behave when they think you have nothing to offer them. Not because you should become suspicious of everyone, but because their behaviour tells you something you might otherwise have missed.
And when you finally see it, you have a choice.
You can spend years trying to prove yourself to people who never valued you in the first place. Or you can stop auditioning for a place in their lives.
No dramatic confrontation. No desperate explanations. Just a quiet shift in where you invest your time and energy.
Let them have their preferences. Let them chase status. Let them decide who deserves their attention.
You don't have to beg for a seat at a table where people only respect you when you can afford the meal.
Perhaps the real measure of a person is not how they treat someone powerful, but how they treat someone who cannot do anything for them.
And if basic respect is too expensive for someone to give you freely, perhaps they are the ones who cannot afford it.
Mirhaa05 (hemirhaphysio@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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