According to the little oxford dictionary, the word "respect" means:
- 1 a feeling of admiration for someone because of their qualities or achievements
- 2 consideration for feelings or rights of others
- 3 (respects) polite greetings and right behaviour.
- 4 a particular aspect, point, or detail
VERB:
- 1 have respect for
- 2 avoid harming or interfering with
- 3 agree to observe a law, principle
Some people tend to misuse this word, and a whole misunderstanding would then take place. When this particular word is used at people like these in telling them that they are so disrespectful, the defence always heard would be," what makes you think you are not disrespectful?" Only a handful of people would except this critical comment and move into silence accepting it.
Now I am not trying to insult those who misuse this word, but I blog today on this topic to show you my opinion that respect is a strong word with a very strong meaning. In the situation above, the defence was not relevant as no evidence was shown that he/she (who commented) had shown disrespect. A Greek Mythologist once said that in order to the use a word, you must first have respect for that word, only then use the word without violating its true meaning.
I choose a clear and disturbing example of disrespect, where a guy goes around touching a girl all over jokingly without her consent, this in law is defined as assault. Here the guy has clearly no respect for the girl. Yes he may be assaulting her, but the only reason for doing so here was simply due to disrespect.
No offence to men, but looking at the actual meaning of this word (the bold ones), it looks like very few men know how to respect a woman. Yes, it takes alot, but the effort you put in is what we girls notice. Every woman would love to be treated with some respect.
This blog is just my opinion to the word "respect" and how it should be used. Therefore i hope I have not offended anyone in anyway. So the next time you use the word "respect", think about my opinion or open the dictionary.
11 comments:
heh.. u're pretty bugged wit the incident today ayh?
erm...ur bugged with wat happened 2day?..err...n cuz of 1 incident..u say most men r like that?...thats totally unfair...i have no idea wat hppnd...but 2 classify most men like that...cuz of 1 incident...is a bit childish......oh n by the way.....u can go around..asking ppl for respect...u have to earn it...it aint easy...like u said...no offence...just a lil annoyed with the way u classify most men..cuz of 1 or 2 individuals..
Respect is not an easy topic to deal with. It has huge implications.
Imagine the number of issues in this world that could be solved if there was just a decent level of respect that people had for each other. More than half of the world's problems would be solved. So obviously, respect is indeed important and should not be taken lightly.
Respect is a two way thing. If we show consideration for other's feelings, and they will respect us in return. Well, i think this is something we can all work on.
Dude (the other Anonymous comment),
You shouldn't have commented on your annoyance, in this blog. In case, you have been following this blog since the beginning as I have, then you'll know that negative comments are not tolerated.
My guess is, your comment will be deleted. The last person to comment negatively had his comment deleted. I always wondered why, but have never commented till now.
However, your comments do not reflect your own respect for the views of this blog's author. Even if you feel that her views are childish or silly or ridiculous or just plain ignorant, you should still respect the fact that it's her blog and that on this blog, her view is always right.
You have failed in understanding her definition of respect, which is 'do not argue with me' if you respect me.
I think you owe this lady an apology for your lack of 'respect'.
Respect-as stated earlier here by someone is earned and to earn respect we must learn to respect the feelings and thoughts of others, but to do that we must first learn to control our thoughts and behaviours which are reflections of our upbringing, the surroundings we live in and most importantly CULTURE. Respect in different cultures mean different thing, ie in the western culture presumeably its allright to call ur teachers or parents by their names or their are many instances we can think of- but in our asian ie chinese, malay, japanese or specifically Indian culture be it a malayali, madrasi, gujrati etc. etc. its disrespectfull to call ur parents, teachers or elders by their names(this is one instance only).
My purpose of bringing in culture to this topic was to show that there dose exist a link between CULTURE and RESPECT, which i presume most people would agree with me.
to the other annoymous
dude,
well...thats the reason we have a comment section in the blog...give ur thoughts and comments about the post...i have agreed with everything else in the blog..but was a lil annoyed with.."the most guys are like this part"..so i expressed myself...its called constructive criticism...its allowed..as long as u dont go over board...n i doubt she would be offended...she is a strong women..n her blogs are intresting...just didnt like the part she said..."most guys are like that cuz of 1 incident"......but its nothing serious or anything....
interestin debate over here..
for one, i couldnt help but relating to the part where she mentioned
"a guy goes around touching a girl all over jokingly without her consent, this in law is defined as assault."
i, for one have always been wondering if it was just me or do all guys go around playing with a girl like tht. at least now frm this cat's point of view.. yeah it isnt right to simply do weird stuff like tht.. i wouldnt go so far to label it assault, but rather a form of harrasment.
neway..
chillin' yea..
i agree with rajiv on that for sure...
remains simple, I liked the way u've used the form of "definition" based dissecting of that word..it makes it more piercing when the "occurance" is brought forth
The view, its not wrong, but upon the views of others(i observe) its not right either...although what that guy did was unacceptable..hehe..and frankly a slap would have suited him quite good..or a good ol' cold stare
but this...."it looks like very few men know how to respect a woman" ...certainly a bold judgement to give for a mass based upon a singular occurance...but as you've said as well..one's reply would be "what makes you think you are not disrespectful?" and that although most of the time is correct, that, that statement is dished out in more in terms of mindless defense than on reality....here i suppose it doesnt apply as so..
all women need respect, even deserving to be fawned upon(atleast thats what I think)...and I guess this question will seem as wrong to you as a fish outside the water.....but do men receive the same when such needs are supplied to women? ..respect is mutual :)
hey listen girl...
not all guys are like that(as what everyone has said. ) its not about respect only. the word trust should also exists in this situation. my opinion is that a guy only does that when the girl has enough of trust in him and knows his intension... and what does the girl do when the guy touches her against her will???? hello she can always tell him to STOP.. and i am sure if he is a guy with dignity he will.. and trust me i havent met a guy who dares to do this things(except where the other party consent and approval). where have u been living???? Though i have no idea what the incident was u could have told him to stop it. and yes if u were to call it assault u can assault him back and the law doesnt call it assault its called harrasment. assault only comes in if there are traces of his"touching" are present on your body like sexual ASSAULT but in this case its classified as sexual HARRASMENT( i am going too far also depends where)... and one more thing if a guy has the courage to do it to u in his mind he thinks u will accept it coz maybe he might know what type of character u are(the loose type who has no objections to this type of thing) a bit too open.. u might have not done it directly. i am talking about indirectly. as it the way u talked to him, the way u dress( i think u r decent, just an eg) or maybe u have touched him yourself. yet again i said if he even has one ouce of dignity in him he wont. hmm food for thought...
there are too many anonymous so...
sam
p/s no hard feelings ppl. just my opinion.
correct me if i am wrong.
Apparently, in some countries you can sue the person for harrasment if he/she so much as spits at your feet.
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