Forums → WEPR → Define Respect in Your Culture/Country
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From what the title says, I just want to know what you would say is respectful and disrespectful. Whether it be from your point of view, or you culture and beliefs, your countries definition of respect. Is it behavior? Is it in actions? Is it in words? Does age matter?
Through what I've learned here in the Philippines, age is a huge part of respect. We hold our elder's hand to our forehead and say "Mano po" as a sign of respect. Though if age isn't too far apart, my generation believes that respect is earned. We don't like it when a kid acts rude towards their elders, we don't like it when people behave rudely.
There are a lot of cultures and different ideas, so I just wanted to ask.
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How about we just respect everyone equally? regardless of age, merit, or assignment? I should not have to earn someones' respect just because they say so. I expect everyone to treat me the way they would want to be treated, and I treat people the way I want to be treated.
That's not really respect, it's just common courtesy. That's the kind of behavior that involves holding doors for people behind you or using your turn signal. Respect, as Sirlegendary pointed out, isn't a matter of courtesy but the act of looking up to someone or something serious or important enough to warrant being put on a pedestal. For example, people respect firefighters for risking their lives to save others. Some people still respect the president for the enormity of his office's duties... although I couldn't possibly explain why when we just seem to get one bumbling fool after another.
espect, as Sirlegendary pointed out, isn't a matter of courtesy but the act of looking up to someone or something serious or important enough to warrant being put on a pedestal.
There seems to be a difference between the denotation and connotation of respect and what it is. I remember all through grade school being taught that respect is the same as the golden rule... treat others how you want to be treated. I also think with the connotation and denotation being different, that would mean that there are different levels of respect, and for different reasons. I respect a random dude on the street and I hold the door for him because I recognize that he is a fellow human being, and I would want the same from him. I respect military members, or police, because they have a more dangerous job, and they save my sorry *** from harm or death.
How about we just respect everyone equally? regardless of age, merit, or assignment?
If everyone were placed on a pedestal, they'd still be seen at eye-level.
Just to make things even clearer for everyone, respect is defined in many ways, differently in many cultures, and thought of differently through the generations. Trying to define respect is like trying to give definition to happiness, everyone has their own way of seeing it. Saying someone's approach to respect is wrong, is definitely even less correct. That's why the title of the thread is "Define Respect in Your Culture/Country". We should be talking about the ways in which we offer respect, and not debate about what respect is, because you will never get anywhere with a word defined by a million things.
I expect everyone to treat me the way they would want to be treated, and I treat people the way I want to be treated.
As the Bible say. This is a good sentance but it is not so much connected to respect, because I have a poor neibourgh who I don't respect (because he is annoying and too chiildish; nothing to do with his poornes) but I still help him with money, psihologicly, etc. I am doing him what I would want if I was in his situationAND IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH RESPECT.
There is a different connotation and denotation for respect. When I was in school, I remember being taught in grade school that respect is "The Golden Rule.: or Treat others as you want to be treated." By the definition above, we can deduct that there are multiple levels of respect. There's the type of respect where you treat someone like you want to, and then there's the type of respect that you'd show firefighters, or military members, it's a type of gratitude. I go up to anyone I see in military, fire, or police regalia, and I say "Thank you"
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