Do dirt, get dirt. So I treat people with the same respect that I

“Do dirt, get dirt. So I treat people with the same respect that I want.” Thus spoke DMX, the prophet of struggle, whose voice carried both the wounds of hardship and the wisdom born from it. His words are raw and simple, yet they resound with the force of eternal law: that every deed returns to its doer, that every action sows a harvest which must one day be reaped. To sow cruelty is to reap cruelty, to sow respect is to reap respect. This is not merely morality—it is the rhythm of existence itself.

The ancients, too, proclaimed this truth. In the East, it was called karma, the law that deeds echo back upon the soul. In the West, it was written: “As you sow, so shall you reap.” The Stoics of Rome declared that a man who harms others cannot escape the corruption of his own spirit. DMX, through the fire of his life, gave this old law a new tongue: “Do dirt, get dirt.” He reminds us that no evil remains without consequence, and no good without reward.

Consider the tale of Julius Caesar. When he betrayed the trust of his allies, when ambition led him to trample loyalty, he reaped in turn betrayal at the hands of Brutus and the Senate. His “dirt” returned to him, sharpened as a blade. Contrast this with the legacy of Nelson Mandela. Though imprisoned and oppressed, he chose not vengeance but respect. In treating even his enemies with dignity, he reaped reconciliation for a nation. These stories reveal the same law DMX declared: what you give is what you will receive.

DMX himself walked through the shadows of pain, betrayal, and violence. He knew the streets where hardness ruled, where men tested one another with cruelty. Yet he also knew the deeper truth: to escape the endless cycle of harm, one must choose differently. By giving respect—even in a world that often withholds it—he sought to sow seeds that would return not with hatred, but with dignity. His words are not a sermon spoken from safety, but a code born of survival.

O children of the future, hear this wisdom: you are always planting seeds with your words, your actions, your choices. If you deal in deceit, deceit will rise against you. If you trade in cruelty, cruelty will meet you at your door. But if you live by respect, treating others as you would be treated, you break the cycle of dirt with honor. Your harvest will not come overnight, but in time, it will return to you in friendships, in peace, and in the strength of your own spirit.

The lesson is clear: do not walk the path of dirt, for it will stain you and drag you low. Instead, walk the path of respect, and life will raise you higher. Respect is not weakness; it is power. It demands discipline, it demands humility, it demands strength to return good for evil. Yet in this path is the true victory, for respect endures long after fear and hatred fade away.

Therefore, let your practice be this: when tempted to repay wrong with wrong, remember DMX’s warning. When anger stirs, pause, and ask yourself: what harvest do I seek? Treat others with the honor you desire, and in time, that honor will circle back to you. Teach your children this law, for it governs not only streets and nations, but the very fabric of human life.

So I say unto you: remember the wisdom of DMX. Do dirt, get dirt—but sow respect, and reap dignity. The choice is always yours, and in that choice lies the shaping of your destiny.