The Importance Of Respect

Respect; a topic people tend to have many different opinions on in terms of its definition. Some people live with the Idea that, respect is as respect does. Why can’t respect be given by everyone from the beginning? In sports it is a motive to gain the respect of one’s opponent but in real life, people often live by that same motto. Is this wrong? Well the question first has to be asked, what really is respect? Every person admires the act of being respected but not everyone knows how to give it. Some people take incorrect measures such as intimidation factors to gain respect. Are these people really respected? Is the power of intimidation the same power that gains respect? By now it’s easy to understand that respect can be viewed in a number
of ways and goes far.
Let’s say ten people are brought into a room and asked a series of questions based on respect. Just because of the nature of the subject, anyone can get the idea that the ten opinions given by both male and female will be different. Does gender play a role in a person’s original definition of the word? Well, it could but it doesn’t necessarily mean it does. Maybe if the question arose asking those same ten people to, describe how one gender should respect the other? So many different answers will present themselves. This is the kick in the brain, because for so long people have lived with their own definition of respect and ways of getting respect rather than by its true definition.
Some may say they have been told to treat others the way they would want to be treated but this isn’t respect at its best.
Why can’t respect be seen as treat others in the way they should be treated and not just based upon the way the other person treat them? This is why patience is a virtue when it comes to respect. People often lose tempers when they feel disrespected because even though their definition is different, everyone feels they deserve it even if their means of giving it are not always right. Giving respect to a person gives them a sense of self-worth and it makes them feel like they are of value to someone or something. Respect gives people a sense of purpose in the lives of others and the line between the opposite should not be so thin. It may be easier for people to understand respect if they first understand the true value of the term and why it is so important. Point is no one likes to be disrespected and from this point of view makes it the easiest position for people to understand why it is important. Everyone at one time or another in their lives have been guilty of decreasing the level of respect for people they either don’t know, feel that they are less important, or people that don’t meet their standard for
respect.
In the article “Mother Tongue” written by Amy Tan, Amy talks about the way people treated her mother because of her inability to speak fluent English. Most opinions would argue that she was not given a high level of respect because she didn’t possess the same skills as they did in terms of speaking English. Is it fair that respect varies by the person? Absolutely not, but this is the type of thing that happens in everyday life. People tend to give more respect to the people in their lives they hold of value even with the fact that everyone holds value to someone. Respect is viewed in many lights and given in many forms but if people don’t live by its ultimate definition we will continue to see how it changes from day to day.