We have been raised and told since we were little kids to respect older persons, to respect teachers, to respect the elderly, to respect disabled persons.
Well what if that person is just a nasty person, a nasty old man. Should you respect them still? Wouldn't you be a hypocrite for pretending while inside all you hold for that person is disrespect?
I will never forget my Arabic literature teacher back in high school, who used to tell us not to ever disrespect another person, because when we do, we're actually disrespecting ourselves. And for me this rule was enough to abide by all my life even though it was extremely hard to apply non-theoretically.
However yesterday, he said: "people should earn respect, and if a person offends me or does something that I do not respect or approve, yes I remain civil with them but they lose my respect immediately, be it older or younger than me".
As I prepared myself to answer back, I opened my mouth but no words came out, I couldn't disagree or argue with him, I suddenly realized that he's right.
Perhaps it took me 28 years to realize the difference between respecting and being civil.
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Respect is not taught. When a person is making an ass of himself, how can I respect him? When a person, even a close family member, is living just because he's living, why should I respect him? I'll treat him with respect, but I'll never respect him.
ReplyDeletedefinitely.. treating with respect is not the same thing as respecting.
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