I was sitting on the bench with the sculpture of Homeless Jesus in front of St. John’s Hospice, back at my old stomping grounds on Race Street in Center City Philadelphia. I was waiting to serve the lunch crowd at the hospice, finally getting to a pandemic postponed “first” from 2020. I had been cleared to serve the homeless in 2020 when the second wave of the pandemic cancelled this attempted first. Deacon Anthony, who has been running this well established homeless shelter for over twenty years, imposed some wisdom in my performing the task at hand. He told me that… “it is all about RESPECT!” He counseled me to not try to figure out the reason why all of the people we were about to feed were homeless. There are many reasons. He said they are people. They are not dumb and can smell out insincerity. Just like any subset of people there is a small percentage you need to keep an eye on to be weary of. He said to be fair, reasonable, kind, yet firm in showing the respect in serving. He could not have been more right. We ended up serving hundreds of grateful people that just wanted some respect. Humbled.
When we were composing the Core Values for our company we took a survey of what was most important to the staff. One word was at the top of the list – RESPECT! Respect has become one of our Core Values, which we define as… “Assume positive intent. Work from the assumption that people are good, fair, and honest, and that the intent behind their actions is positive. Set aside your own judgement and preconceived notions – always be professional. Give people the benefit of the doubt and your “RESPECT”. Give respect to others, and expect respect in return.“
As Deacon Anthony told me this week “IT IS ALL ABOUT RESPECT!” Be it respecting the homeless, fellow workers or just each other of other cultures, countries, religions, political persuasions – we all are looking for it.