While there are plenty of people that have a healthy degree of self-respect, we do so find that there are plenty of other people, that do not. Not everyone is proud and satisfied with who and what they seem to be, and because of that dissatisfaction they don’t really have much self-respect, at all. The problem, then, for those that lack self-respect, is that many of those people, are going to be inclined to want to strike out, in various ways and manners, against those that seem to be in a better position than they are, because of the fact that they have not learned the value of respecting others, for their own lack of self-respect.
Additionally, it also has to be taken into fair account, that there are those manipulative people, who when perceiving that someone is lacking in self-respect, use that information for their own advantage so as to pile on more misery on the other, or for exploitation, or for other malevolent intents. After all, those that lack self-respect, are the very type of people, that are going to be susceptible to others that appear to be of influence and of power, and will therefore have a tendency to desire to do what so needs to be done to get into their good graces, which may or may not help their own self to secure some much needed self-respect, such as a young person apparently can get, when joining up with a gang.
So too, there are those good people, that desire to be of aid to those that are lacking in self-awareness and self-respect, thereby working with them to demonstrate that wherever that we are at the moment, does not necessitate that this will be our position, forever. In other words, by applying ourselves, and working on worthwhile goals, those that are currently hurting when it comes to respecting their own self, can begin to extricate themselves from their rather poor and vulnerable place in society.
Indeed, part of the problem that we have in modern societies, with self-respect, has an awful lot to do with the images that we absorb each and every day, of those others that seem to have happy and fulfilling lives, so accomplished by having obtained the material accouterments of social success. Those that berate themselves then for their inability to have the same type of success, even on a lesser level, are the same sort that lose their self-respect, for their apparent failure to be those same sorts of things, themselves. In truth, that is the curse of a material society, which puts pressure of many a person, to measure up well to the other, but often fails to take into account, the actual character of a given person. So, for those that really desire to have self-respect, they need to concentrate far less upon the appearance of success of the other, and far more upon the good potential of their own character, which has the capacity and the capability to be of immense value and worth, if only we would devote our mind and efforts upon such.