I once believed that self-important people who demanded--and sternly expected-- submission and abeyance ipso facto deserved it. I would flinch in their presence. While I continue to believe that all human beings deserve respect, I have traveled many, many miles from the view that self-important people bent on intimidation are inherently more worthy than I, and that before whom I therefore should automatically tuck my tail in submission and shame. I now consider their threatening self-righteous demeanor of self-importance a weakness bordering on mental illness and deserving pity rather than fear.
