Are you Respectful ?-1
“I’ve lost all respect for them”, is not an uncommon phrase found in many conversations. It usually follows a moment when we believe we have been wronged, cheated or insulted. Sometimes, if we believe someone else has been wronged, we withdraw our respect from the perpetrator on their behalf! Even though we may never have met them! And yet, as we disrespect the disrespectful we often don't realize we are simply adding to the sum of disrespectfulness in the world!
Endangered Species!
It seems, in many areas of society, we are witnessing the rapid disappearance of respect. Each week brings more stories of animosity and conflict between couples, family members, neighbors, work colleagues, politicians and in just about every other area of society. Disrespectful behavior has almost become the norm in some communities, in some schools and in some institutions. In sport and education ‘respect campaigns’ have sprung up in an attempt to heal fractured relationships and a deteriorating culture. As with so many ‘values’ we only start to value what we realize we are losing or have lost. The more respect disappears the more we start to see it’s crucial role in maintaining the coherence of both family and community.
It seems, in many areas of society, we are witnessing the rapid disappearance of respect. Each week brings more stories of animosity and conflict between couples, family members, neighbors, work colleagues, politicians and in just about every other area of society. Disrespectful behavior has almost become the norm in some communities, in some schools and in some institutions. In sport and education ‘respect campaigns’ have sprung up in an attempt to heal fractured relationships and a deteriorating culture. As with so many ‘values’ we only start to value what we realize we are losing or have lost. The more respect disappears the more we start to see it’s crucial role in maintaining the coherence of both family and community.
But why do we stop respecting someone. Why is it that we seem to lose our ability to give respect to another so quickly? Why do we create ‘the other’ in such a negative light within our consciousness? Before we can answer such questions we probably need to clarify the idea, the concept, the meaning of respect itself.
So what is respect exactly?
Respect is a verb mistaken for a noun. It is something that we do more than something static that we give and receive. It’s not a thing! But it’s hard not to talk of it as a ‘thing’, as a noun. It’s in the nature of language to try to capture it! To respect another is to acknowledge and affirm the goodness and worth of the other. It is ‘to value’ the other within the dynamic exchanges of the relationship.
Prior to any visible or audible demonstration, respect is how we hold someone within the ‘light of our consciousness’. It is how we create ‘the other’, which means ‘perceive’ the other. Our respect will be defined by the quality of the energy with which we surround the other in our mind, long before our words and behaviors express it visibly. It is only possible within a non-judgmental attitude.
Om Namah Shivay
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