Respect

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I was watching TV news, all the troubles in the world. The more I watched the more it seems to me that the world needs to refocus on a single word...

For me, respect is how I place value. If I do not respect a person I cannot accept them as a leader or authority figure; if I feel no respect for an ideology, political or other, I cannot bring myself to trust or follow it.

One of the first times I can remember feeling that way was when I was eight - a teacher treated our class badly, she showed us no respect. It was so unfair! Now, looking back, I can see that was when I stopped respecting her as a teacher. I still did what she told me to do, but only because I didn't want to get into trouble. She was no longer someone I looked up to.

Now, on TV, I see world leaders, governments and businesses, making the same basic mistake - they don't show respect to anyone, but they expect everyone to do what they say.

...and then they're shocked to discover that people feel no desire to follow them or listen to them! Perhaps they have come to rely on fear too much? At school we pretended to obey another teacher we feared, but when she couldn't see us... we broke all her rules. As long as people are afraid they will pretend to obey, but without respect they will always be ready to break the rules whenever they can.

I thought I'd go look up exactly what the word "respect"means. The dictionary says:

1. esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person or ability.
2. deference to a right or someone considered to have certain rights: respect for the elderly.
3. the condition of being esteemed or honored: to be held in respect.
4. a formal expression or gesture of greeting, esteem, or friendship: "Give my respects to your parents."

'Esteem', 'honour', 'a sense of worth' ...how often do governments or businesses treat people this way? No wonder people are reacting in ways that show their utter lack of respect for those that think they hold positions of power and authority!

They forget that no-one holds power without the permission of others. We make others powerful by allowing them to be so. We respect that they have authority... we give them authority. Oh yes, people can treat others as powerful through fear, but fear holds no respect. People feeling fear-without-respect will break the rules in secret, as we did in school with that teacher, but when fear-without-respect becomes unbearable... all hell breaks loose! It happens every time.

Self-respect is just as important. People without self-respect usually find it hard to respect others. It's like imbalance within causes imbalance without. The child who hates himself/herself finds it easier to hate others. The race, religion or culture that does not respect itself cannot respect another.

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Pity our world leaders couldn't sit down and take a lesson from the children in this video. We might just have a better world if they did!

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