Take heed not to be transformed into a Caesar, not to be dipped in the purple dye, for it does happen. Keep yourself therefore, simple, good, pure, grave, unaffected, the friend of justice, religious, kind, affectionate, strong for your proper work. Wrestle to be the man philosophy wished to make you. Reverence the gods, save men. Life is brief; there is but one harvest of earthly existence, a holy disposition and neighborly acts. — Mediations, Book VI

My Take – One of the things that will help me respect those in power, especially politicians, is if they remember where they come from.  None of us are to the manor born here.  We all come, one way or another, from people coming to these shores with very little to their name.  No matter if you are generations removed from them, we all have ancestors who lived hand to mouth, struggling every day, but always striving to do better.  When I see someone who forgets this, or who forgets that before they achieved a better station in life they led a much more modest life, they lose a lot in my estimation.  I will always remember that I am the descendent of immigrant farmers and workers, and that at times in my life I have been perilously close to the edge of poverty.  No matter where I live or how much I make, I will always know that I am no better than anyone else.