I'm a people watcher. I find myself constantly watching others every where I go. Let me be clear, I am in no way creating judgments or opinions about these people but more so wondering about them. What has brought them to this location today? I watch how they interact with others and can usually pinpoint their basic demeanor by just watching their stances while waiting in line. During my time people watching I have come to notice something that has become a lost art. Respect. I have not only witnessed this lost art in public but also in social media. We as a culture have lost the general art of being respectful to others and ourselves.
In fact, we are so surprised when we see others practicing Respect that we praise that individual for something that we should be doing everyday and rightfully so respect and even tolerance have become lost in our ever growing selfish society. We can praise the individual as much as we want but how about we take a chapter from their book and bring back this lost art.
This lose of respect and tolerance for others was especially brought to my attention during our recent Government Shutdown. During this time I witnessed the complete and utter lack of respect and tolerance for others opinions. Since when did we get to a point where we feel the need to disrespect the opinions of others? Part of the beauty of America is our freedom of speech which extends to all viewpoints. How about instead of degrading others viewpoints we recognize that as Americans we have to right to have and express these viewpoints. We are a melting pot not one-way street.
This was just one example of how respect and tolerance have been lost in our society. Between the blatant lack of tolerance for different religions and lack of respect for others that we sometimes display on our social media pages; its amazing that Americans in general haven't been deemed as intolerant or even hateful in some regards. I'm not saying that we are all like this. I still believe that it is human nature to be kind. However, we all have our moments and this is a trend that I have been witnessing with increasing occurrence in recent years.
So let's, as a society, bring back our P's and Q's when a stranger holds open the door for us or try to be on time to our appointments more often (I'm very guilty of this). Bring back listening skills and tone down our sometimes disrespectful natures in regards to other viewpoints and celebrate that we have the right to disagree with one another. After all without our freedom of speech and religion our society would be no different than most others. Our freedoms are what separate us; they are what make us the best and in practicing Respect for others it has the power to create a much happier society. In a way Respect is Power.
In fact, we are so surprised when we see others practicing Respect that we praise that individual for something that we should be doing everyday and rightfully so respect and even tolerance have become lost in our ever growing selfish society. We can praise the individual as much as we want but how about we take a chapter from their book and bring back this lost art.
This lose of respect and tolerance for others was especially brought to my attention during our recent Government Shutdown. During this time I witnessed the complete and utter lack of respect and tolerance for others opinions. Since when did we get to a point where we feel the need to disrespect the opinions of others? Part of the beauty of America is our freedom of speech which extends to all viewpoints. How about instead of degrading others viewpoints we recognize that as Americans we have to right to have and express these viewpoints. We are a melting pot not one-way street.
This was just one example of how respect and tolerance have been lost in our society. Between the blatant lack of tolerance for different religions and lack of respect for others that we sometimes display on our social media pages; its amazing that Americans in general haven't been deemed as intolerant or even hateful in some regards. I'm not saying that we are all like this. I still believe that it is human nature to be kind. However, we all have our moments and this is a trend that I have been witnessing with increasing occurrence in recent years.
So let's, as a society, bring back our P's and Q's when a stranger holds open the door for us or try to be on time to our appointments more often (I'm very guilty of this). Bring back listening skills and tone down our sometimes disrespectful natures in regards to other viewpoints and celebrate that we have the right to disagree with one another. After all without our freedom of speech and religion our society would be no different than most others. Our freedoms are what separate us; they are what make us the best and in practicing Respect for others it has the power to create a much happier society. In a way Respect is Power.
I am the type of person to initially think the GOOD of people, and then am too often disappointed. I agree that tolerance and acceptance and respect are sliding downhill in America. I think about what our Grandparents and Great Grandparents would think if they witnessed public disrespect like we often do now. I almost feel embarrassed that 'we' are like this now.
ReplyDeleteI think the only thing you can do as an individual is to project out there what you want to see. So; kill 'em with kindness. Be extra nice and respectful to people at stores, at work, in line at the DMV, etc., so that maybe they will stop and think, 'I should be more like that.' When politics come up, listen and tell that person you didn't think of it that way and thank them for sharing. It might show others you can have a calm, healthy discussion about politics, even if you are both on different sides of the fence. It's all we can do I think.