Respect

by Lawrence-Lightfoot, Sara

• ISBN13: 9780738203188
• ISBN10: 0738203181
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-02-18
• Publisher: Basic Books

Summary

In these many-layered and masterfully written portraits, Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot reaches deep into human experiencefrom the drama of birth to the solemn vigil before deathto find the essence of respect. In her moving vision, relayed through powerfully told stories, respect is not the passive deference offered a superior but an active force that creates symmetry even in unequal relationships.The reader becomes an eyewitness to the remarkable empowering nature of respect, both given and receivedbe it between doctor and patient, teacher and student, photographer and subject, and midwife and laboring mother. They will feel it in the reverent attention paid by a minister to the last moments of life, and in the Harvard Law School professor's lively curiosity about his student's extracurricular lives.Through the power of her narrative, Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot ultimately makes the reader an intimate partner in her observations of respect linking these varied and intense relationships. A book to be savored and shared,Respecthas the power to transform lives.

Author Biography

Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot is Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and MacArthur genius award winner. (A named chair was created this spring in her honor.) She is the author of The Good High School (Basic), Balm in Gilead (AWL and Penguin), and I’ve Known Rivers (AWL and Penguin). Each of these books, as well as Respect, uses a vivid technique of portraiture, for which she has become known both to scholars and devoted readers.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Introduction Creating Symmetry	1	(14)
Empowerment	15	(40)
A Queen's Place	18	(5)
This Is About You	23	(7)
Family Building	30	(2)
Fighting for Change	32	(4)
The Babies Kept Me Going	36	(3)
A Vulnerable Time	39	(8)
Boundaries	47	(4)
Birth	51	(4)
Healing	55	(36)
Acts of Care	58	(7)
Advocacy	65	(3)
Legacy of Action	68	(11)
Healing Service	79	(5)
Respect in Practice	84	(7)
Dialogue	91	(26)
Nurturing Inquiry	95	(5)
Legacy of Trust	100	(3)
Forging Connections	103	(4)
Storytelling	107	(7)
Risk and Faith	114	(3)
Curiosity	117	(36)
The Color of Curiosity	121	(4)
Curiosity and Intimacy	125	(4)
Curiosity and Consent	129	(4)
Direct Engagement	133	(4)
Bathed in Full Attention	137	(6)
The Value of Their Lives	143	(10)
Self-Respect	153	(42)
Civil Procedure	157	(4)
``One Thing No One Knows About You''	161	(4)
A Comfortable Atmosphere	165	(9)
Burden of Achievement	174	(7)
``Smoke and Mirrors''	181	(8)
``Giving Us Back to Ourselves''	189	(6)
Attention	195	(36)
Absence and Presence	198	(8)
Learning to Do Nothing	206	(7)
This Is What We Can Do	213	(3)
Teachers of Presence	216	(6)
Agape	222	(3)
Death	225	(6)
Some Roots of Respect	231	(9)
Index	240	(4)
About the Author	244