This is like “respect is earned”.

No mother fucker, respect is the default. You’re supposed to respect everyone you meet. People can lose respect, and gain it back. But you don’t start at zero and earn your way to being respected. You respect every human you meet

That was the default at one point in human history. If you didn’t hunt or forage, you probably didn’t get to eat. Eventually humans discovered agriculture and figured out a small group of people could produce enough food for a large group of people. You’d assume that would then mean not everyone would need to labour for their food, but you’d be wrong!