They call it the Golden Rule: treat others as you want to be treated. This means you need to show respect if you want to get respect, plain and simple. Respect is important in any context and it`s dying. People are losing respect for themselves and others and it is tearing the world apart.
People always say respect your elders! Respect your mother, your father, your teacher. But respect for authority of all kinds is gone. Kids no longer do what they are told simply because an adult tells them to do it. People in general, not just kids but adults too, don’t respect others. Even though most don`t notice, their actions, no matter how small, can affect people in the largest of ways.
It may be hard to realize but everyday things can be considered disrespectful by different people. Attitude is the worst; your facial expressions, body language, and tone are some of the easiest way to show respect or disrespect. Like they say “It`s not what you say it`s how you say it”. And it`s true, just because you say something nice doesn`t mean you mean it. The tone of your voice can offset it and make it rude and negative. Even something as trivial as an eye roll can be enough to upset anyone. Your attitude is the worst but material items can be bad too. Things like references in music, or clothes can be thought of as rude by different people. Shirts cut too low or “saggin” with your pants down to your ankles can be disrespectful in the wrong place. Watching what you do and say is smart if you want to stay safe.
These days everybody wants to be like everybody else. Like with the aforementioned clothes, music, and behavior. If people are doing this or that, then I have to do whatever this or that is, is what society is coming to. People now believe that what everyone else is doing is what they need to do, because it`s “cool”. But what it is is that we don`t respect ourselves as people. When you try to live your life as someone else you aren’t respecting yourself and loving yourself as you. In the bible it says to “love your neighbor as yourself”. That`s another way of saying treat others as you want to be treated.
If you don’t respect yourself then you can’t respect anyone else. If you can’t look in the mirror and like the person looking back at you then there is no way to respect anyone else. Respect is something that needs to be learned by everyone. To gain the ability to respect others you need to learn to respect yourself as you are or make the changes that allow you to do that.