Respecting your elders

I've always been taught to respect my elders. That being said, I have had a history of good and bad experiences that have made me question this. I have a grandmother who I love dearly, but she has always been very harsh about her words. There came a point where I couldn't respect her for the things she would say and I had to tell her to leave our home.

Respect should be given to all people. I respect everyone I meet until I get to the point that they do something to make me loose that respect (it would have to be a serious offense to make me loose it). Respect can be earned, but that takes time and I try to keep optimistic about change. My grandmother saw the error of her ways and apologized to both my mother and I.

Whenever I loose respect for another, that doesn't mean I stop loving or caring for them. I don't shut a person out for the things they have done, because when it comes down it were all human and we make mistakes.

Better words could've not been used. My thoughts exactly.

I guess I'm pretty status quo about respecting my elders
If I find any issue I just voice it out, no biggie
Though sometimes the talks I get from my folks get quite the bother.

Or when it comes to outside, I really put age aside. When it boils down to how well can you survive out there, physical condition gives the youngster an advantage, but I still like to keep a balance. Mutual respect as I call it.

Unless I dislike said Elder, which I would use a more disrespectful tone in bias.

Eh, I guess I couldn't answer this truthfully or in a unbiased nature seeing as how I am a C.N.A. But yes respect is supposed to given but as I like to believe, should be earned. Courtesy and kindness should be given automatically until something happens to rip it away. I am kind and nice to a few of my patients, a few of them I respect, but at least they had a good chance to earn it over time with me. But this is just the opinion of a cynical bastard.

Typically it depends on how i size them up; lenme explain (swaggot: i give them slightly less respect, kindly old veteran: slightly more respect) i might be influencing this a bit woth my opinions of people but i tend to treat everyone kindly and respectfully. Their actions from the moment we start to talk or interact lower or raise my opinion and my respect.

By default, you should respect your elders.

Unless they're assholes

However, even though you should only need to give respect as it is earned still lets one thing remain. If you are i. The bus or train, if you see an old person you would give them a seating, since theyre body is weak, regardless of what you might think of said elderly.

These pretty much summed up the first part of what I wanted to say, so I won't repeat what others already covered.



I suppose my next step would be to say that in addition to having a certain level of respect for everyone be default, I feel that more people should be more understanding of a situation before assuming that said person is no longer worthy of respect. Back home in Nippon, there are many kinds of people - understanding people, indifferent people, observant people - and then there are others who will see part of a situation and make conclusions on their own that may or may not be correct.

Basically, for example, when my elder brother helped me shop for clothing one time, he was accused of being a pervert even though he didn't touch anything or anyone, or do anything wrong, just for accompanying me to the story, because I was still a child and was a lot younger than him.

But he was just doing our mother a favor, so that I had clothes for everyday, and we also planned to pick up groceries at the supermarket on the way home for dinner. We had all that trouble because someone assumed that my brother was a 'lolicon', which is basically calling him a pedophile, just because he carried my clothes to the counter.

Of course, my brother was excused once they found out the truth, but we didn't get to eat dinner until almost 21:30, because the security guards kept him there until our father got off work and could come by to pick us up.

Basically, what I'm saying is, everyone should always hold their assumptions to a situation before trying to exercise false justice. I feel like that's probably society's response to a population that is writhe with more and more perverts, but the way we treat these people isn't going to make them better - it's only going to make them worse.

For example - if I were raped, I wouldn't trust our justice system to correct them - because in Nippon it seems like every sex-related crime committed ends up becoming worse if the same person commits it again after imprisonment. Basically, we're treating these people like animals, and that is exactly what we're turning them into.

At that point, while it is partly their fault for committing the initial crime, the fault also lies with out system that makes their lives a living hell, treats them like garbage, and then tosses them onto the street to be treated even worse.

As a victim of attempted rape, I wanted the man attacking me to stop, but at the same time, I was afraid to call the police, not because they would imprison him, but because of what they would do to him in prison, make him worse, and then spit him out into the world as a person with only hatred and grudges.

I guess, the highlight of all of this is - People need to treat people better, even if they do bad things, because if we do bad things to others after they commit crimes, then are we really any better? Are we less like animals? Are we worth more than garbage? I wouldn't think so. I would think the people that would guide criminals in the right direction and give them a second chance, those are the people to be admired, those are the people who SHOULD be given the power.

Sorry for so much text, I just couldn't make it short and simple... will work on that.

Respect for me is on a person to person basis. Granted, I'd still pull a person out of harms way if I could do so safely and quickly, but that still doesn't mean I like and/or respect said person. All it means is that I'm carrying out my obligation to not be the jerk who simply watches someone get hurt when I could have easily prevented it.

Elders have more experience and have lived longer so it's not uncommon for them to know a lot about what has happened in the world than you do. However, they also carry the mistakes and ideas of the previous generations so they can also have either the right or the wrong idea. Physically speaking, their bodies are less rigid and weaken from age so they're more fragile than youngins.

In general, elderly people should be regarded as people that should be taken to consideration but they don't deserve a right to be treated above anyone. I know some elders who have learned from their changing environments and applied that knowledge by giving the young some wise advice while others push people around without a care in the world and seem senile when it comes to manners. Then again, when you're almost expected to die at any time during the last time period of your life, it's understandable that people are easily prone to be selfish because they're either alone and/or not as fit as they used to be.

I give respect to those who deserve. Some people think you can automatically get high respect because you have experience. Being older doesn't give you a pass to be a douche.

I think "respect" is a little too broad of a vocabulary in this case. To elaborate, what kind of respect are you talking about? For instance, I respect both my mother and Albert Einstein, but in a different manner. I respect my mother because she loves me more than anyone else, and it is clear through her actions. However, Albert Einstein and I do not know each other personally, yet I still respect him due to his knowledge and contribution to the society. As for your Nazi example, to be honest, my short answer would be yes and no. I do not respect a Nazi, for he/she has taken countless of innocent lives, and he/she is definitely not a good role model. On the other hand, I do respect them if they are older than I am, for they have lived longer than I did and most likely have more experience and knowledge about life.

"You should respect your elders."
"It doesn't matter if you're young or old, stupid is stupid." -Madlax

Generally speaking, at a young age, you have to respect your elders, because they are the ones who are supporting you, and you do not have the knowledge to have reasonable disagreement with them.

But once you're old enough to form logically coherent arguments against things they say, then you're entitled to choose whether or not you respect them.

For me, age does not matter. Only the way you are and the context.

@ecchigaijin

Respecting someone and helping someone out of kindness are completely different topics, at least IMHO.

Respect is something one earns through his or her actions and behaviour, no matter the age, physical or mental situation, and the like. Does being old, wrinkled and frail guarantee more respect by default? Bullshit. If this person deserves it, he or she will be respected by their family, friends and peers. If they don't, they will be treated accordingly.

To answer to your specific question though, yes I do agree that helping out people, even with small gestures of goodwill, is worthy of praise.

I was raised to respect my elders, no matter the circumstances, but going into adulthood, you can definitely see characteristics that would make you think otherwise, that you could not sense as a child.