It’s National Respect Day—a day to focus on how we can be more respectful of others. It’s sad that we need such a day, but a general lack of respect is a distressing reality of life in the 21st century. This week’s Simple Living Sunday post explores the importance of respect and suggests ways we can all show more of it to others.
We should all consider each other as human beings, and we should respect each other.
Malala Yousafzai
Three simple pleasures and highlights
Continuing my practice of celebrating the simple things in life, here are three simple pleasures and highlights of the last week.
- We’re still enjoying lovely warm days, but the cooler nights are so much better for sleeping.
- On Wednesday, I went into the office for the first time in a couple of months. It was great to see everyone, and our team went out for a nice lunch.
- I got my new professional headshots and I love them. I’m not a big fan of getting my picture taken but Kendra from Portraits by Kendra did a fabulous job. I think this one is my favourite but you can see more of the photos on my About Me page.
Photo credit: Portraits by Kendra
This week’s simple living focus: Respect
My parents raised me to follow the golden rule—treat others as I would like to be treated. It’s a lesson I’ve carried with me my whole life.
Every day, I see examples of the erosion of respect in our society. Between social media, news reports in the mainstream media, and day-to-day interactions with people, we seem to have lost the ability to treat each other with courtesy and consideration.
Sadly, many in our world feel it’s okay to abuse and threaten elected officials, teachers, tradespeople, and the list goes on. Heck, we’ve even gone back to mistreating the essential workers that were heralded as heroes at the start of the pandemic. How quickly we forget!
What is respect anyway?
Oxford Dictionaries includes several definitions of respect but the one that resonates with me is “polite behaviour towards or care for somebody/something that you think is important”. The first words I zoom in on here are “polite behaviour”. It costs nothing to be polite, so where did our society go wrong? When did something so simple as treating people with common courtesy become so rare?
I think we can find the answer to that in the second part of the definition: “somebody/something that you think is important”. It seems our collective sense of self-importance outweighs the right of others to be treated with courtesy. It’s easy to look down on people if we think we’re better, or more important, than them.
I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university.
Albert Einstein
Einstein had the right idea. It really isn’t that difficult when you think about it.
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Three things to do this week
This week, let’s take a step back and commit to showing more respect to each other. With a little effort, we can have a positive impact on the world around us. Here are three simple things to try.
Imagine your life if that person didn’t do their job
One of the things I loved in the early days of the pandemic was the value we placed on jobs people traditionally looked down on: grocery store clerks, delivery drivers, fast food workers, personal support workers, and other similar roles were rightfully deemed essential. Sadly, that increased respect was short-lived.
This week, think about the role everyone you come into contact with plays in your life. Then, imagine for a minute your life if they weren’t there doing that job. It may give you a different perspective on things.
Teach your kids the importance of respect
As a parent, you have a responsibility to model the right behaviours for your kids. One of the most valuable life lessons you can teach them is how to treat others with politeness and respect. If your kids don’t learn that lesson from you, it’s a pretty safe bet they will never learn it—so start them off on the right foot.
Treat everyone with the respect you think you deserve
The world would be a better place if everyone let go of the idea that they’re better then everyone else…or anyone else for that matter.
Respect is a basic human need and it’s something everyone deserves. If you want it, you have to give it.
Men are respectable only as they respect.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ultimately, respect is a two-way street—if we want to be respected, we need to be respectful of others. Let’s celebrate National Respect Day by making an effort to show a little more respect to everyone we interact with.
How else can we show more respect to others? Tell me your thoughts below.
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Very nice topic sharing. So useful respect between person. Like many things in life relationship respect all about the little details. Respect back one by one. I like usefuly topic.
You’re right that it’s about the little details. It’s a shame it’s so hard for many people. Thanks for reading.
You are most welcome!
Respect is something that everyone deserves. I think one of the issues is that people may not respect themselves and so they don’t know how to give that to others. Acknowledging that we are worthy of respect and teaching the younger generation that they are worthy and should respect themselves and by extension others is a critical factor in the equation, I think. Great post, Michelle and lovely headshot. Thanks for sharing.
That is a really great point. I think a lot of the disrespect we see stems from insecurity. When people are more secure and confident in themselves, they can show respect and consideration for others.
Thanks for dropping by, and for your kind words. Have a wonderful weekend.
Love the headshot here! It is cheerful and formal at the same time. 🙂
Thanks so much, Jaya.
I am guessing the overall erosion of respect towards other beings — human as well as the amazing constellation of beings which constitute an intact ecosystem — is at least partly related to these amazing gadgets that allow us a) to be constantly distracted (a form of disrespect which breaks my heart is seeing parents talking/texting/doom scrolling on their cell phone while ignoring their children…) and also b) physically removed from who or what we are interacting with. We text/write/comment all sorts of things that we’d be very unlikely to say to another person face to face. I am very glad you wrote this post about respect. It is a foundational value/practice fir the ongoing survival of our species (as well as a bunch of other species which our disrespectful/ignorant/greedy choices threaten to drive into extinction…) Thank you! And your new photo looks great. Love that blue!!! BTW, one of the things I continue to savor about WordPress is how respectful all of the bloggers tend to be with one another!
That’s a really good point, Will. There’s such a thing as “knowledge overload” (and I use the word knowledge loosely considering much of what we see online is false). It’s so easy to hide behind an online persona and spew hatred to people we don’t know. I always stop and ask myself “Would I make this comment if they were standing right here in front of me?”
I agree that WordPress tends to be a very respectful place with many different opinions and polite discussion. We definitely need more of that in the world.
P.S. Thanks for your lovely comment on my photo. That shade of blue is my all-time favourite colour.
Beautiful post, Michelle. Let’s bring respect back one by one. I believe it’s in the little details and the exercises you suggest show that. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you Vanessa. You’re right. Like many things in life, respect is all about the little details. Imagine the difference if every person reflected and adopted one new positive habit every week. It’s one of the goals I originally had in mind for this series. Have a wonderful Sunday!