Respect Over Tolerance.
This week's @ecotrain Question of the Week is “respect.” I admit to being a tad stumped at this one. Although there are actually a couple of more detailed questions on “respect” to choose from, these just flummoxed me more, so I'm just going to stick to some thoughts on the word itself and it's meaning for me, which is part of one of the questions:
What does respect mean to you, who do you respect and why, and how do you demonstrate it?
We often hear talk about tolerance. Tolerance of different people, different cultures, different races.
“tolerance: the ability or willingness to tolerate the existence of opinions or behaviour that one dislikes or disagrees with.”
You tolerate something you dislike, so why would we only tolerate other people? Should we not first respect them?
I'll be honest, I'm not a very trusting person. I learnt at an early age not to trust just anyone and there are few people I would place my full trust in. If someone needs to borrow something, I first ask myself if I can afford to not have it returned. When I meet someone I don't know, I'll avoid being in a position that could put me in danger if they turn out to be hostile. I don't divulge personal information that could put me in an uncomfortable position if they didn't keep it to themselves, even with people I'd call friends.
However, despite my caution, my belief is that everybody should first and foremost be treated with respect. If at some point they cause you to lose that respect for them, then it may need to turn to tolerance, if you have to be around them.
Respect, for me, means treating someone politely, as you yourself would wish to be treated and as if they are just as important as everyone else. As I get to know people, I might gain more or less respect for them, often depending on how they also treat the people and environment around them. I won't give someone more respect that someone else purely on their position, title or uniform. They need to earn that with me.
So you can probably see why I struggle to answer the part of the question “who do you respect?” as, I respect many people and that respect extends to all life. After all, what are we without the life all around us that supports our own life? If we are not respectful towards others, then where does that leave us in the end?
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Yes, exactly, where are we left? I think everything we do has to consider: 'is this the way I'd like to be treated in this situation'? And if we treat others badly, it actually wounds us more than we know. I would have struggled with this one too - I got bound up by the TSU one (which will get published in the morning as otherwise I break my one post in 24 hours organisation skills) and that got me so deeply tied up in knots that the respect question just passed me by! That's enough thinking for this week - next post will be decidedly PRACTICAL. A garden post it is!
The garden posts become easy after trying to work through these challenges! Gives the brain a break. Lol
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I think democracy has a lot to answer for. We're taught to respect other people's opinions, as if every shallow observation from every non-invested bystander is somehow important.
Only care about the opinions of people you respect. There I fixed it.
I can respect that people have opinions, but it doesn't mean I need to accept them. After all, opinions are like bottoms, everybody has one and I respect that they are important to them.
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I think showing respect has to do with your attitude. The way you treat someone.
Personally, I think people have to earn respect by the way they behave. No need for them to agree with me, like what I like (I have less respect for people without a will of their own).
It is hard to say if trust has to do anything with it. Sometimes it comes with the job or level of education or...
Very well put! I agree that we need to distinguish between the various forms of respect. Even someone who is not respectable otherwise, still deserves the respect of a living human being.
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