Who do you RESPECT most?

[Foofoogal]

I have 2 news write ups in my Bible. They are both about courageous women that make me weep every time I read the stories.
No matter how bad my life gets somehow these women give me the strength to go on.

One is celebrated now and her name is Irena Sendler. She was a Polish Holocaust hero who is credited with saving some 2500 Jewish children out of Warsaw.

Another lady is not as well known at all but I always wish I had the money to send her a dozen roses every single week.

Her name is Mary Denton of Houston Texas. I pulled a picture out of the Houston Chronicle on May 15, 2006. It showed her at a Mothers Day ceremony at the Houston Natl. Cemetery.

She had 8 sons and had lost 4 of them to military service.

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I also respect highly the average man and woman that put one foot in front of the other trying to make it in life without harming others as in the Golden Rule and live by it to the best of their abilities on a consistent basis.
Working hard and taking care of business.

 

[Undertow]

I'm not trying to raise eyebrows or be foolish..

MLK Jr., Marquis de Sade and Abe Lincoln - They seem like inappropriate and strange bedfellows but I've long respected these men for their determination in the face of mounting opposition, their ability to sway entire populations by words alone, their tenacity, their sincerity and their willingness to die for a cause (although history tells Hitler was more willing to take his own life - the coward).

Now to prelude the deluge - I don't necessarily agree with, support, or like all of these men. Respect and Approve are two entirely different concepts, worlds apart in this example.

 

[The Lonely Navigator]

I'd like to add to my original response:

The Founding Fathers of the U.S. (namely George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin)

Otto von Bismarck

Alan Villiers

 

[Derek WC]

The Lord
My granddad
General George Smith Patton

Any hard working man or woman, look at most teenagers and picture the opposite.

Also Undertow makes a good point.

 

[The Lonely Navigator]

I second Undertow's statement on Respect.

 

[Tripnastic]

My Drill Sergeant from when I was a 17 year old fresh off the bus in Oklahoma. He may have yelled a lot, but I later got to see him live out the principles he was trying so hard to instill in all of us. He made a huge personal impact on me.

 

[Miss sofia]

My Dad, because he married my mother when she was carrying another man's child (me) and has been unflinching in his love and support all my life and never once treated me any differently from my brothers and sisters.

My Great Uncle Harry for military service in WW1 and then working as a warden in London during the blitz because he was too old to enlist and wanted to do his bit and for always demanding we bring Old Holborn and Rum every time we visited! RIP

 

[grundie]

I have a few...

Ada Lovelace
Roald Dahl
Eamon de Valera and Michael Collins - Two men who shaped my homeland.
Audie Murphy - Humble beginnings to hero.
Tim Flowers

 

[olive bleu]

My Father, my Grandfather,my Husband. All men who had/have the strength to do the "Right Thing"...day in,and day out. Even when the ship was sinking.Not for glory. Not for money. But for Love and just because that's what you do.♥

 

[Harp]

My Drill Sergeant from when I was a 17 year old fresh off the bus in Oklahoma. He may have yelled a lot, but I later got to see him live out the principles he was trying so hard to instill in all of us. He made a huge personal impact on me.

Oddly enough, I learned more about being a gentleman from drill sergeants
than through earlier tenure with the Christian Brothers of Ireland; whom were
a mean spirited lot compared to those grizzled veterans. Perhaps this is
a somewhat unfair comparison; there were exceptions to be sure, but for
a seventeen year old fresh off the bus in Louisiana the drill cadre were a
different breed. Very impressive men.

 

[Chas]

Malcom X
Nelson Mandela
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Duke Ellington
Thomas Paine
Omar Khayyám
Alexander The Great
Charles Darwin
Jean-Paul Sartre
Ayann Hirsi Ali
Tommy Douglas
Epicurus

The students of May 1968

The "tank man" of Tiananmen Square

 

[MissHannah]

Ian MacKaye of Fugazi/Minor Threat/Dischord Records
John Peel
Emmeline Pankhurst and Emily Davison

 

[Derek WC]

Yet another man to add to my list. My great granddaddy on my moms side. He fought on a cruiser in The Great War, and the ship narrowly avoided it by about a foot.

And the husband of one of my neighbors who fought in the Korean war. He threw back several grenades.

And speaking of grenades, this one man in World War II, who kept on throwing grenades off until one took his hand with them.

And again speaking of men risking their lives for their comrades, I have another neighbor who served in World War II, and would not be here today had his buddy not jumped on a grenade for him.

Men I respect and value most are those who would risk their own life for their bretherin.

"Greater love hath no one than this, that he lay down his own life for his friends".
John 15:13

 

[MissHannah]

The original question was for well-known people. otherwise we'd all just say our mum or grandad.

 

[Derek WC]

Ahh, doesn't change the fact though.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Six whole pages, and no mention yet of Jack Roosevelt Robinson. If this question had been asked in 1947, he'd be at the very top of many many people's lists.

 

[Miss sofia]

The original question was for well-known people. otherwise we'd all just say our mum or grandad.

Apologies, although my family are always going to be the first people that pop into my head.

Camille
Thomas More
Francis Bacon
Spike Milligan
Johnny Cash
Padre Pio

 

[Lusti Weather]

Dennis Kucinich.

 

[Chas]

Six whole pages, and no mention yet of Jack Roosevelt Robinson. If this question had been asked in 1947, he'd be at the very top of many many people's lists.

Oh, man, how did I forget Jackie?

Thanks, Liz. Add him to my list. A true hero. Add Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali to my list while we're at it.

Just thinking on Jackie is enough to make me forget that there are misguided dullards in the FL who admire NAZIs.

 

[The Lonely Navigator]

Speaking of African-American sport stars - I'm surprised no one mentioned...

Jessie Owens