Respect

Have you ever looked up the word ‘respect’ on Google? Well, I did, and this is what I found:

1. A feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities or achievements.
2. Due regard for the feelings, wishes, or rights of others.

I thought the two meanings were well explained but I felt puzzled by the order in which they were exposed, so I kept on looking. I wanted to know what the main dictionaries said, and I was disappointed by the fact that they actually used the same order.

It’s a small detail, yes, but I think that small details like this can lead to greater failures. In this specific case the failure of our society as a community.

In my opinion, the order of the definitions should be inverted. The ‘due regard that we owe to people’ should come first. We should start considering respect as a value – the main value, perhaps. If we did, if all of us practiced respect, many problems our society has to deal with every day would disappear.

Racism wouldn’t exist, because we would have respect for people for the simple reason that they are human beings, so we wouldn’t even pay attention to their skin colour.

Gender inequality wouldn’t exist, for the same reason. Who cares if that person is a woman or a man, if they are straight or gay, or anything they want to be, if we are already respecting them for being humans?

Wars wouldn’t exist, because we would respect people’s rights. For the same reason dictatorial government wouldn’t be part of our world and human rights wouldn’t need to be defended.

Anger and depression would diminish because we would respect ourselves by being who we really are and listening to what we really want, helped by the fact that we would no longer feel scared of expressing ourselves. In fact, knowing that our choices would be accepted and respected by others would make us feel lifted and would prevent frustration – which is one of the main reasons behind anger – and mental health issues.

Global warming wouldn’t exist, because we would respect our planet so we wouldn’t pollute it as if it wasn’t our home.

Mass extinction wouldn’t be a threat, because we would have respect for the earth in its entirety, including all the beings that populate it.

See what I mean? It’s a simple thing and yet it could change so dramatically the way we live.

That’s why sometimes details should be a priority.

© Brooxy Moon

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