100happydays - Day 43

Today's word is respect.

At the course I've had this weekend I met very diverse people. I usually spend time with people having the same values with me so it was a little weird to be so near to people agreeing for example to hit your children if they don't behave as you wish in order to educate them.

One of the most interesting discussions was around respect. Who should we respect?
What I strongly believe and I'm sure I was quite sharp about this today is that we should not respect no one by default. Or we should respect everyone as long as we are respected. And if we are not, we should leave that environment and search another one where we share respect between us.

I was reading some time ago that the key for a happy and long relationship is not communication, is respect. I respect you and your point of view even if I don't agree. And this is fine. We can argue as long as we do this with respect.

What was the happy part to all of this? That I met one lady, mother of 8 years old who was talking with so much respect about her daughter and her bad mood this weekend because her mom was away. That she validated the child's need before explaining the rational part. Unfortunately, children and especially our children have, at least in their first years, only their parents and close relatives to build their self-respect. And the can do this only if they are respected and treated as people.

Thank you, February 12, for bringing back respect into my attention.

How would you describe today's happiness?