I am pretty sure most of you are going to agree with me on this topic. There are middle aged people who think that they’re entitled to everything and always demand like respect when they can be awfully unpleasant as children, teenagers, young adults or adults that are in their 30s. I find the saying “Respect your elders” very stupid because why should we respect someone if they can’t respect us back. Age doesn’t matter, respect is a two way system. You gotta earn it, not demand it.
I am sick of these elder women who think they’re doing good by lecturing you on how to live your life when they’re just bored with their own lives. Especially when they ask dumb questions like, “When are you getting married?” as a way to guilt you into marriage. As a Brit with Bangladeshi parents, it irks me big time when these old women start talking about marriages where I lash out on them because of the trauma I went through as a kid i.e. I was almost a child bride.
I’ve had negative experiences with some elders in real life so it was hard to show them respect when they don’t care about me and have zero respect for me.
I’ve had someone older than me expecting me to respect them just because they’re an elder but they’re super rude. It’s hard to respect a person if they don’t treat you well. Respect is earned in most cases, not given.
People sometimes do respect others without making them earn it but then the respect is lost when that person isn’t good. Respecting every single person isn’t a good idea since there are people who are bad/evil. You want to respect people because they’re good.
Random example= I’d respect a kid who donated their toys to sick children over grandparents who took off, leaving their family without saying anything to their granddaughter and the rest of the family members.
Respect is for everyone. Basic respect, respect as a person should not be earned.
I think you were probably mistaking this kind of respect with the respect that comes with authority (your so-called superiors at work) or skills. You know, someone who, for instance, claims to be well-versed in writing. That person must earn that respect as a writer, but as a person… well, you get the point.
On the other hand…
I totally agree with this.
And I will not deny it; I understand where you are coming from. I think elders nowadays are more disrespectful than the young generation and they do not even acknowledge it
Thanks for clearing this out. I admit that I don’t make much sense at times so thanks for that.
Yup, I have heard one old woman lecture one 14 year old girl at the gym I go and boy, it was cringy af. She was all like, “Don’t get pregnant, don’t have sex, don’t have a boyfriend” like dude, this girl didn’t seem the type to be into all of this.
Honestly, I will tell you as a teenager that I have met nice adults, but I also saw (not met) some adults who weren’t so nice, I would say like this. I mean, you can’t just come and tell somebody to respect his/her elders while you do not respect them yourself. So, correct me if I am wrong, but what you’re trying to say that it should be a mutual respect - not a one-sided one.
But, I will tell you the truth - between them, I saw more teens who weren’t respectful, than adults.
(By the way, I haven’t seen any adult who asked someone “when will you be married” nor have I been asked )
But, ages shouldn’t be matter anyway. We should respect one another as humans being.
Age shouldn’t matter, telling kids to respect your elders could be right but only if people told elders to respect the kids. Basically, everyone should ‘respect’ each other