Acceptance is something any one person can give to any other person. You don’t need any training or qualifications to accept somebody.

Acceptance means, “I receive you as you are.”

Acceptances comes from having respect for someone else. Respect is a prerequisite, actually, so I guess I was wrong about there being no qualifications. There is one.

You can’t accept what you don’t respect.

Without respect, acceptance does not exist. The very nature of acceptance is to welcome and embrace someone as they exist now, and to do so without any demands upon them to change or meet some standard which you set for them. In order to accept someone, you have to acknowledge that they have the right to exist as they wish to exist, not as you wish they would exist.

Acceptance says, “You exist for yourself, not for me.”

Acceptance says, “I do not have to understand you in order to value you.”

Acceptance is impossible without respect.

If you have respect for others, acceptance is easy. Natural. If you respect someone, you don’t have to try to accept them. You just do.