RESPECT

Where Has It Gone? How Do We Get It Back?

If we could identify one quality that is most missing from Western culture — whose absence inhibits soulfulness, the wise use of resources, and lawfulness — what would that be?

How about respect?

Somehow, this precious and powerful character trait has eroded over time, so gradually that we have hardly noticed. The insidiousness of its decline is analogous to traffic. We know that highways today carry lots of cars and trucks, but do we remember what traffic volumes were like 25 years ago? A year ago? A month ago? There is a lot more traffic now than before, yet we probably cannot discern the difference because the change has been very gradual.

Insidiousness is a prime means by which the soul's grip on an otherwise soulful personality may be loosened or even lost. Experts tell us that most hardcore drug users began with marijuana. Most alcoholics began with a beer, a glass of wine, or a cocktail. The human habits of rationalization and justification of our negative attitudes and actions impregnate the mind with thoughts that minimize such patterns and eventually excuse them altogether.

Table manners have slipped in direct proportion to the decreasing level of respect people show for one another. The schools of today are a far cry from those of 20 or 30 years ago, when most students showed respect for teachers and administrators. The same decline of respect applies to many other institutions, to parents and other adults…the list goes on. In each case, the degradation has been insidious.

Respect is seen as essential to human progress because it has to be learned and practiced routinely until it is ingrained in one’s personality. Love is innate, but respect is a choice. The soul responds to a respectful personality because respect is service to others. And that is the soul's mission: to serve others in order to unfold itself within a human personality.

All of us can choose to demonstrate respect. In parenting our children, for example, we can teach and require them to be respectful not only by our words, but by our own demonstrated respect for all others. Let's imagine ways that we can begin to show more respect for others. What might we say, or do, or think differently? How do we respond differently to those who show us respect and those who do not? As this planet seemingly shrinks in size and our realization of our interconnectedness with all people expands, we can make significant positive contributions by simply choosing respect.