Help with assay, grammar, pls.

[petitioner]

Self-respect

Writing the essay “Shame” Dick Gregory showed even though he had a hard life he had self -respect. Though the teacher and class did not respect him, he had to live and respect himself. He respected himself because he tried to look nice, washed his clothing and had a handkerchief to impress the girl he liked. In order for him to have self respect he needed to know that someone loved him. In order for me to have self respect, I need to practice these three things: a sense of integrity, acceptance of others’ differences, and a compassionate heart.
The first thing that I must have in order to feel self respect is a sense of integrity. I have to be myself, be honest with all my dealings with my fellow man. Honesty gives one integrity. The next thing is to respect the truth even if it is hard to hear. When I was teenager I lied to my mother that I will go to a friend’s house in reality I run away with my boyfriend. I did not want my mom to know the truth at that time. Eventually, I told her the truth because I felt I could not respect myself if I could not tell my own mother the truth.
The second thing that I must have in order to respect myself is acceptance of other’s differences. It is hard sometimes but I have to be able to do that in order to respect myself, not judging someone because they are different by their color of skin, look, the way they act, etc. Not everyone acts or feels like I do, therefore I must consider their feelings also. I may not always agree with the way they think or act, but I have to be considerate and accept them for who they are. Being helpful and overlooking their faults shows self respect and the ability to get along with others.
The third thing that I must have in order to feel self respect is having a compassionate heart. I need to be able to feel sorry for people and be patient even if I don’t like someone; I need to show that I care. I need to understand when someone is not feeling good or going through something hard in their life and show compassion for their situation. A compassionate person is one with self respect and integrity. For example, last winter while I was driving to work and I was late, the following happened: I live in a secluded area that is heavily wooded and there is much wildlife in the area. In the mornings the deer feed in the fields along the road. As I was driving to work there was a car about one half mile in front of me. Suddenly a deer jumped out as racket, and the car in front of me hit the deer. At first I quickly considered driving around the car as I was late and needed to get to work. But then my conscience spoke to me and I decided to pull over to see if that person was alright. As I approached the car, I saw that the front was damaged and that there was an older woman inside. She was very shook up in nearly in tears. I asked her if she was alright and she indicated that she was very shook up and didn’t know what to do. I asked her if she could call somebody and she said no because she didn’t have a cell phone. Since I had one in my purse I told her she could use mine. She then called her husband who told her he would come and get her and take care of having the car towed to a repair shop. The woman was much relieved and thanked me repeatedly. I am glad that I stopped and showed compassion for this lady.
Because I have an accent being from another country I often overhear others making fun of the way I articulate. It usually is a young person that does not understand the difficulty of learning and speaking another language. I have to have understanding of their lack of understanding. By doing so I have more self respect and compassion.
Finally, in order to have self respect, I need to practice these three things: A sense of integrity by always being honest, acceptance of other’s differences even if I have different views, and a compassionate heart with an understanding of their situation. Having self respect sometimes is not easy to some people because they think they are worse than they really are. Sometimes people have to realize that you can think better of yourself because you can do it. For myself to respect me, I know that if I fail, I can always do better the next time and improve myself. By constantly looking to improve myself respect will improve.
In conclusion: having a sense of integrity, compassion for others is a key to self respect. By practicing those I feel better of myself and feel that self respect.
Placing other’s needs before mine and showing true compassion to ones situation will not only give me self respect, but also the respect from others.