“Longer than that.

My whole life.

I really believed that if I just worked hard enough, and excelled quietly enough, and never made a fuss, they would eventually have to see my worth.

That respect was something I could earn from them, if I only earned enough of it.” I looked up.

“I had to learn, the hard way, that you cannot earn respect from people who need you to fail in order to feel good about themselves.

There is no amount of success that satisfies them.