Sunday, July 12, 2009

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.


A long time ago my parents taught me to respect others no matter their how different they are. Many individuals these days are disrespected for their cultural differences, race, and faith or simply for just being unique. I’ve loved being in Korea because I’ve had the opportunity to immerse myself in a different culture. While here we went to the Korean Folk Village and participated in a traditional Tea Ceremony. The Koreans have truly been open and tried to share their culture with us, but not all of us appreciated nor respected the opportunity.

How do you respect a different culture? By being open minded, having an awareness of cultural differences, appreciating their existence and primarily by respecting and working to understanding lifestyles that are different from your own. While being here I have seen my offensive acts that have not respected the Korean culture and way of life.

For example, when you enter someone’s home in Korea you are supposed to remove your shoes and either wear house shoes or go barefooted. However, I’ve seen foreigners wearing their shoes inside others homes. Another rule is respecting your elders. Koreans as well as Haitians, Africans and other Caribbean and Asian countries believe that those older than us carry a huge bag of wisdom. Wisdom that we hope they will share with us before they pass. Under the influence of Confucianism, they are taught of the great importance of respecting our elders from the family structure. Under the doctrine of “Filial piety” and the principle of “Li” there is a call for devotion and obedience to and in reverence of our elders by younger members of the family and society. Helping an older person cross the street, not sitting in the elder and handicap section of the train or simply speaking to our elders with respect are all ways we can demonstrate admiration.

This taught is taught in Christianity as well. The bible clearly says in Ephesians 6: 1-3 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother—which is the first commandment with a promise— that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” This tells us that by respecting our elders we will live healthier and longer lives. Why? I asked my father this once and one thing he said in particular still holds true. No matter what year or century we are in many obstacles and challenges cross the generational gap. Certain life lessons remain true and never change. That means our elders have been through some of the situations we find ourselves in everyday. Imagine someone being able to share with you and help you avoid a mistake they made. While we all are bound to make mistakes there are some we can avoid by listening to words of wisdom from our elders.

So in closing, we all need to stop and think about the way we respect our elders. Do you greet your elders when you enter a room? How do we monitor our language in an effort not to disrespect others? How do we treat others from different cultures? Do we automatically assume they are beneath us and having nothing of value to share?

”Every human being, of whatever origin, of whatever station, deserves respect. We must each respect others even as we respect ourselves.” --Ralph Waldo Emerson—

Respectfully yours,

Karen Nazaire

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