Written on April 24, 2015

“Mom!” Ana shouts, “I hate you!” – spoken words of teenagers at one point to a parent in our family life. We have disrespected ourselves, our parents, best friends, even strangers we’ve never met. Respect for other people is important because it allows us to treat others equally and build a lasting relationship that will last a lifetime.

Treating people with the same respect is essential in life because it can lead the human race to seeing an individual as a worthy person to be around. For example, when Ana is screaming in her mother’s face, her mother feels the pain inside her as she hears “I hate you”, spoken from her one and only daughter. Ana lost respect for her mother, and her mother lost respect to her daughter because they disconnected, making the respect for each other unequal. In addition, when I was younger, I remember my older brother, Justice, always talking back to my dad, storming, stomping away when he didn’t get his way, slamming doors when he received information he didn’t want to hear. The respect my brother gave to my father was weak and horrifying to watch, I told myself all the time I would never be that disrespectful to, not only my parents, but every person I come across in my path of life. Too often, parents are disrespected by their children; respect for other people is important because it allows us to treat each other equally and fairly.

A long lasting relationship begins with respect, from yourself, and to others. For example, when a person introduces himself, he has respect for the man because this person has given him no reason to be disrespected by him. Many people don’t want to hang around a person that is rude, disrespectful, or ungrateful. In addition, while friends could have a relationship for 20 plus years, once the moment either of them lose respect, the friendship would end and communication would be gone forever. The friendship down the drain, unable to be visible ever again. For many of us, making a friend and building a relation begins with respect from within ourselves.

Much like Ana yelling at her mother, respect in both, our family life, and in our real world life, respect is important because it allows us to treat each other equally, and help build lasting relationships.