In an inventive mood.....
Since one of my co-workers is an editor for the free-press, I have felt inspired a couple of times to write something for it.
Ahh, but what to write!?
I think I am going to write about respect, its something I feel passionate about, and something that needs to be written about, so if anyone reads this and would like to give suggestions, let me know!
This is going to be a ramble at first, just to warn ya, part of the inventive process.
It seems that the philosophy that most people have towards respect is that is must be earned. Be that from people, animals, fire, cars, God, food, whatever. A common cliche complaint I hear is that there is "less respect for elders" now than there was in the past. That people have less respect for thier parents, teachers, and authority figures is an observation that has been going on for as long as I can remember. In a country and culture in which its typical to find someone wearing a shirt that insults anyone with the capacity to read, its no surprise that this is the conclusion. However, as in the clothing example, it is unbiased dis-respect. People have less respect in general for just about everything. Call it materialism, call it jaded, call it whatever you wish, but the symptoms are there.
First, I think a definition of "respect" is in order. This is more difficult than it might seem. Respect is almost an intangiable thing, its elusive, but its power is written of, and seems to be a necessity. As a culture, we all seem to know how to show respect. You listen to that person of respect before speaking, you let them go first in line, you give them special privileges, you give that person consideration before anything else. Oddly how we have so many definitions of how to show respect, but a very simplistic definition of the word itself. At the most basic level, respect is to "to feel or show differential regard for" but that isn't all of it, is it? At a deeper level though, a definition may not even be required. Respect is something that has a feel to it that is almost timeless, as long as there have been blood lines, there has been respect. There is probably no greater theme that runs through the media, through story lines, through our families. Let's just peruse for a moment. At the moment, there is the conflict of Terri Schiavo, the subject is respect to the right to life, the subject of terrorism and the respect for us as a country. School shootings, and the respect for life period.
Its little wonder that many have come to the conclusion that there is less respect now than it used to be. But why is that true? What has happened to cause this decline? Fingers point everywhere; to music, bad parenting, video games, and television. It is quite a quandary all these indications, but are they the cause or the symptoms? Which came first, the obcene gesture towards the cop, or the rap song? I don't know, and while this may sound like a cop-out, it doesn't really matter. the question is how do we get respect back. What do the people that have respect for thier elders, their teachers, the officials, have in common? Some may say that those people encountered examples of those people that warranted that respect, it was easy to respect those people because they deserved it, and from them, they passed that respect on to the rest of the people in that class.
At least, that may be how it starts out. Then things happen, a promise broken, a lie told, and the level of respect for that person goes down. Those things that we relate to respect, integrity, honesty, empathy, are compromised, and thus, respect for that person can be lost.
It doesn't even have to be for people specifically, it can be for just about anything. The pool player can be said to gain respect for different kinds of shots, an architect has respect for the building that he has built. The daily commuter can have respect for the car that they have to drive to work every day. We anthropormorphize our belongings, those things that we have an every-day involvement, those things that we depend on. We call them trustworthy, dependable, sturdy, "won't quit on you." Do we automatically respect those things though, or do they earn our respect? I have a hard time imagining something that I say I respect without it "earning" it first. I have long been taught that people need to gain your respect before you give it to them. Examples such as the kid that gets picked on in school finally gets left alone when he fights back against the bully, gaining respect, of the employee just starting out, and getting all the crappy jobs untill he gets the respect for better jobs, no matter his qualification. Of the nation that feels they need to test an atomic weapon before they feel they will be listened to.
What if we tried it backwards though, instead of earning respect, we just automatically assume that people, belongings, animals, the earth, other countries, are entitled to respect until they lose it? Wouldn't that mean that those things that we see as respectful actions, like letting others speak when its their turn, and listening to them, of considering others opinions, no matter how different they are from yours, of getting your own impressions before adhering to others.
An ending note for now, since I am almost out of time, this was a definition of respect that a co-worker gave me, and I think it to be a far improvement from the one I found in the dictionary:
An internal agreement to treat another human being with dignity.
I think it's still a little imperfect, but its closer than "to feel or show differential regard for"
anyway, for now, signing off.
Ahh, but what to write!?
I think I am going to write about respect, its something I feel passionate about, and something that needs to be written about, so if anyone reads this and would like to give suggestions, let me know!
This is going to be a ramble at first, just to warn ya, part of the inventive process.
It seems that the philosophy that most people have towards respect is that is must be earned. Be that from people, animals, fire, cars, God, food, whatever. A common cliche complaint I hear is that there is "less respect for elders" now than there was in the past. That people have less respect for thier parents, teachers, and authority figures is an observation that has been going on for as long as I can remember. In a country and culture in which its typical to find someone wearing a shirt that insults anyone with the capacity to read, its no surprise that this is the conclusion. However, as in the clothing example, it is unbiased dis-respect. People have less respect in general for just about everything. Call it materialism, call it jaded, call it whatever you wish, but the symptoms are there.
First, I think a definition of "respect" is in order. This is more difficult than it might seem. Respect is almost an intangiable thing, its elusive, but its power is written of, and seems to be a necessity. As a culture, we all seem to know how to show respect. You listen to that person of respect before speaking, you let them go first in line, you give them special privileges, you give that person consideration before anything else. Oddly how we have so many definitions of how to show respect, but a very simplistic definition of the word itself. At the most basic level, respect is to "to feel or show differential regard for" but that isn't all of it, is it? At a deeper level though, a definition may not even be required. Respect is something that has a feel to it that is almost timeless, as long as there have been blood lines, there has been respect. There is probably no greater theme that runs through the media, through story lines, through our families. Let's just peruse for a moment. At the moment, there is the conflict of Terri Schiavo, the subject is respect to the right to life, the subject of terrorism and the respect for us as a country. School shootings, and the respect for life period.
Its little wonder that many have come to the conclusion that there is less respect now than it used to be. But why is that true? What has happened to cause this decline? Fingers point everywhere; to music, bad parenting, video games, and television. It is quite a quandary all these indications, but are they the cause or the symptoms? Which came first, the obcene gesture towards the cop, or the rap song? I don't know, and while this may sound like a cop-out, it doesn't really matter. the question is how do we get respect back. What do the people that have respect for thier elders, their teachers, the officials, have in common? Some may say that those people encountered examples of those people that warranted that respect, it was easy to respect those people because they deserved it, and from them, they passed that respect on to the rest of the people in that class.
At least, that may be how it starts out. Then things happen, a promise broken, a lie told, and the level of respect for that person goes down. Those things that we relate to respect, integrity, honesty, empathy, are compromised, and thus, respect for that person can be lost.
It doesn't even have to be for people specifically, it can be for just about anything. The pool player can be said to gain respect for different kinds of shots, an architect has respect for the building that he has built. The daily commuter can have respect for the car that they have to drive to work every day. We anthropormorphize our belongings, those things that we have an every-day involvement, those things that we depend on. We call them trustworthy, dependable, sturdy, "won't quit on you." Do we automatically respect those things though, or do they earn our respect? I have a hard time imagining something that I say I respect without it "earning" it first. I have long been taught that people need to gain your respect before you give it to them. Examples such as the kid that gets picked on in school finally gets left alone when he fights back against the bully, gaining respect, of the employee just starting out, and getting all the crappy jobs untill he gets the respect for better jobs, no matter his qualification. Of the nation that feels they need to test an atomic weapon before they feel they will be listened to.
What if we tried it backwards though, instead of earning respect, we just automatically assume that people, belongings, animals, the earth, other countries, are entitled to respect until they lose it? Wouldn't that mean that those things that we see as respectful actions, like letting others speak when its their turn, and listening to them, of considering others opinions, no matter how different they are from yours, of getting your own impressions before adhering to others.
An ending note for now, since I am almost out of time, this was a definition of respect that a co-worker gave me, and I think it to be a far improvement from the one I found in the dictionary:
An internal agreement to treat another human being with dignity.
I think it's still a little imperfect, but its closer than "to feel or show differential regard for"
anyway, for now, signing off.