I often hear this phrase uttered when a younger person is disagreeing or going against the wishes of an older person in some way. In these cases I feel that it’s about control. About making sure the younger generation continues to toe the lines that their elders toed
Our elders have been here longer and, of course, have life experience that we can learn from. Their opinions shouldn’t be dismissed as the “old way” but they shouldn’t be unquestioningly followed either
Little children should be respected as well. This is not often the case in our society where they are often being told to do as they’re told, or being forced to hug an aunt who has come to visit who they don’t want to hug, for whatever reason
What is respect? What do I want it to look like?
For me, respect has to rest on equality. Right now in our society it feels a bit more like our version of respect creates a hierarchy, either slight or great
If I believe that respect must be earned that brings me right back to judgement. If you offer words and behaviours that I agree with and approve of, I will give you respect
People feel free to treat people they do not respect poorly
Conditional respect leads to conditional kindness, conditional compassion