Saturday, January 19, 2008

The biggest problem we face today

No Toronto Mayor David Miller, it is not guns.
It is not terrorists.
It is not even Climate Change.

It is in fact RESPECT or the lack of, to be precise.

Much of todays society is so consumed with themselves and how important they think they are, they have forgotten, or worse, have never learned about respect. The links above is proof of that.

No respect for life. No respect for the dead. No respect for those simply just doing their job. I doubt if they have any self respect.

re·spect (r-spkt)
tr.v. re·spect·ed, re·spect·ing, re·spects
1. To feel or show deferential regard for; esteem.
2. To avoid violation of or interference with: respect the speed limit.
3. To relate or refer to; concern.
n.
1. A feeling of appreciative, often deferential regard; esteem. See Synonyms at regard.
2. The state of being regarded with honor or esteem.
3. Willingness to show consideration or appreciation.
4. respects Polite expressions of consideration or deference: pay one's respects

Without respect, we have nothing to offer anyone that is of any worth. I do not suggest that we respect anyone for what position they hold in life, or what they have done. It matters not. We need to respect everyone we encounter in our lives, and some we may never meet, for without each and every one of them, our own lives collapse. No matter how meaningless you may think their position is in life, or how much better you are than them, without them, you are nothing. We all like to think of ourselves as being independent, but nothing could be further from the truth. We are all very dependent on each other. This is simply a fact of living in a society. When that society loses respect for its members, it will collapse. We are now seeing the cracks in our societies super structure. If we don't do some major repairs to our attitudes towards each other, we are all screwed in a major way.

4 comments:

ABFreedom said...

That, to me, seems to be the problem with a socialist nanny state. You loose all respect for yourself, so why would you have respect for others.

Tim said...

AB...
Very good point. How can you possibly have respect for yourself when you are not expected to be responsible for anything, including your own actions.

Chimera said...

I'd replace the word "respect" with "consideration."

My respect needs to be earned. It's not freely given. I do try, however, to give consideration to everyone until they prove themselves unworthy of it.

Tim said...

Chimera...
That is why I specifically hi-lited #3 in the definition...
3. Willingness to show consideration or appreciation.
More people than not these days will not even give consideration to anyone never mind appreciate what it is they do or have done. It is simply... "ME!", "NOW!" and "I don't give a rats ass about you!".