How do you inspire self confidence in others?

This question reminds me of my nephew, Matthew. He was burned over 80% of his body at age 3 and is a life time Shriner's patient. He is 14 years old now. People stare at him all the time. The first time I went out bald, I knew what he felt like. One day when he was around 6 years old, I heard him calling a couple of girls a "ho", I said Matthew stop calling them names, do you know what a ho is? He says no, so I tell him it's not nice to call people names. He says they were calling me names first. What did they call you? He wouldn't tell me. I said, does that bother you? He says yes. I say why? He says I don't know. I told him you can't waste your time with people like that. I asked him are they your friends, he says no, are they your family- no- do you know them- no- do you love them- no way-I said ok then don't let it bother you. If you don't know them, they are not your friends or family, you don't love them, so who cares what they say? He laughed and said you're right, they are nothing to me. I told him regardless of what you look like people will call you names for the rest of your life, don't respond to it. I told him one day a lady called me a bit ch, he asked me what did you do, I told him nothing, except tell her she's got it all wrong, I'm not the bit ch, that's my sister. He started to laugh again. Soon after this conversation we were at a restaurant and this old guy kept staring at Matthew, I was not sure what he would do. Matt goes over to the old guy and hey mister take your hat off, the old guy didn't know what to do so he takes his hat off, Matt says put it back on, you're ugly without it. Matt returns to his seat and says I feel better, he's not starring at me anymore. I have shared this story over and over again. When it comes to people calling you names or staring at your disability....if you do not know them, they are not your friends or family, who cares, don't waste your time on people like that. Matt's confidence level is very high today and he plays football for his highschool team. The other teams are afraid they will hurt him by the way he looks, but I tell you he is one of my hero's in life and the strongest person I have ever met. I have a picture of him on my wall with the words "Deal with it" My personal note to self, if Matt can be this strong with surgeries every time he grows to strech his skin (human torture) then I can handle cancer. We have given self confidence to each other. Thank you for letting me share this.

Thank you for being an inspiration to us all