Respect to others and make the wolrd a better place. ( 03/ 07/ 2011 by Irene Poh

When I was young, my mum and dad used to tell me to show respect to the elders, relatives, friends and so on. Whether we like it or not, we have to live with this principle of life. The importance of showing respect to parents, elder, friends, employer, employee... etc in regardless of their status. We will have to nurture our children with these values when they are still young. By doing so, the world would be a better to live on.
Is it fair for us to give respect to people judging from their outlook rather than their behavior? One of my business's friend used to complain to me that people judge him based on this outlook. He had this problem of being looked down when he went to the bank to open an account. For comfort purposes, he just wore something simple . Came along another lady dressed luxuriously and wore a diamond ring that catches the attention of the bank clerk . The minute the clerk saw the "rich" lady, she quickly stood up and treated the " rich" lady like a" VIP" . Knowing the fact that my friend came in earlier. What's wrong with her? Come on, her judgement is 101% wrong. My friend could have looked very simple but in fact he is rich. After seeing what had happened, my friend just shook his head and walked away. What a pity? The bank clerk did not even know that she has just lost a valuable customer. So, better not to be misguided and not show the slightest respect to simple people like my friend. Live to respect others in order to gain the respect. In this realistic world, the society is full of people that only give respect to the rich - Is this the norm? What kind of non sense?
Please bear in mind that majority of us also take things for granted by not showing respect to their family members. friends, their husband and vice versa, business partners etc. Children in this digital age complained that their parent do not understand them and yet demand respect . We ask ourself, do we deserve the respect from our parent if we can't show the same respect to them in the very first place?
Gosh... I guess nowadays people just do not bother with giving " respect" to others anymore. I was just sharing it with my sister in law the other day, she told me that she is engaged in a normal conversation with one of her friend's son that turned into embarassment and disappointment. The boy suddenly screamed and sweared at her. She did nothing wrong and could not understand why? To her surprise, she just stared at the boy and not knowing what to say to him? Is it something wrong with the boy's family's upbringing or too much of western influences from the media. Why is he behaving like this? Was he drunk when he said this. Nope. Nowadays, majority of the so called "educated new generation" talk like this ? To them, this is cool . I was disappointed and yet they can tell me to chill . How ? You mean to say that the parents spend some much money ....to produce whole bunch of barbaric / misbehaved kids to the society. I felf sad for them as well as their parents.
Likewise, respect is someting not only one sided and expect being respected. I believe respect has to be earned. One of my friend used to complain that her children are being rude and not giving respect to her. I got a shock. Her children are so highly educated and earning a good salary. Why ? I find that in this competitive world, parents seemed to priotise on the wrong values. They feel that children's academic excellency are the key success in their children's life . As such, they have neglected the most important principle to teach their children 's moral values. The children could not be bothered showing respect to others as long as they obtained flying colors in their exams. After all, these is what their parent' wants. Showing off to everyone how smart their children. Come on. In reality, this bunch of so called " educated generation without knowing the real meaning of "respect" going into the employment market. They would definitely face problem in communicating with others because they do not know how to respect others. People will slowly dis associate from him/ her due to his/ her behavioral problem. Better wake up, start showing respect to others and you will automatically gain the respect. Isn't this a wonderful feeling. To learn to respect others in regardless who they are?
My son, Ivan used to ask me " mum, Is dad being respected ? " . Yes of course he is. People from all walks of life- the old or young ones , the poor or the rich, the academics or even the little ones appreciate and look up to him . Take him as a learned person with great respect, good personalities, manners and the list goes on. I guess we as parent will have to do our part to instill good values to our children, Reap what we sow. With that, the world would be a better place.
That's goes the saying " respect is to earn and not demanded".
Everyone put their heart and soul to shape and change the attitude of the new generation. The choice is in our hand and let's start the ball rolling . Put together everyone's effort - " learn to respect each other to lead a happy life" . Isn't that what we want? Having the mutual respect and live harmoniously with each other. The world would be a better place.
If we can't respect these basic fundamental into our daily life then we will have to bear whatever to come . Do not blame others or trying to shortchange the innocent ones. Let's wake up and do something.