Respect

I am nice.
I am not a pushover.
I am kind.
I am not a footstool.
I will respect you
if you respect me.
I will listen to you
and I will do my best to understand.
But I wont
allow you to control me or my life.
I won't
let you walk all over me and take advantage of me.
I have my own limits.
I am a human being.
If you don't realize this,
you don't know me
and, maybe,
you don't know yourself.
It is not unreasonable
to expect respect.
It is not selfish
to stand up for yourself.
And it is not wrong
to treat a human as a person.