In most situations, respect is something earned. As time goes on, it seems to be given much less freely than in the past. When it comes to peer-to-peer relationships and communication, respect is not often something that becomes a major contributing factor, especially with how brief said interactions can be.
However, our relationships with authorities are very different. Whether it’s as close to home as your parents or as far removed as the religious beliefs you carry, the relationship between you and authority figures is integral to our society and day-to-day life.
I would argue that much of life’s good and bad can be determined by how you handle authority figures and authority itself.
This all begs the question: Does authority deserve your immediate respect, or does it need to earn it? Increasingly, the response I hear is the latter.
There are some problems with that, problems that have already presented themselves in our own campus and have been presenting themselves in the wider world for years.
If each person is individually in charge of when authority deserves respect and when it doesn’t, chaos is truly the only logical outcome.
Take law enforcement for example. A simple search on YouTube results in plenty of body camera videos where lack of respect for a law enforcement officer changes a relatively simple and tame situation into one of life-or-death seriousness.
When it comes to families and parents, the line is even clearer. If I can choose when to respect the authority of my parents, then what need do I have for them? I can make all my own decisions.
Of course, that is unreasonable. I myself wouldn’t be here, due to something as simple as running across the street without looking. Parents, in their authoritative capacity, are to prevent you from causing yourself harm mentally, physically or otherwise.
Additionally, I have observed a lack of authority on our college campus. Professors are either unwilling or not allowed to discipline disruptive behavior.
Whatever the offense, professors frequently try very little, if at all, to discipline their students. The result of this is usually a comfortable but false sense of security. It is quickly shattered upon the realization that the missing discipline generally gets reflected in their grade. Or even worse, they are given an inflated grade.
Whatever the case, it is indisputable that the idea of authority has changed over the past century.
It has become something much of our current generation labels as bad or even evil. However, as much as it can be unpleasant, most of the authority in the world has been put in place to do one simple thing: keep us from harming ourselves and those around us.
I would greatly encourage all readers to look at authority in a new light. Instead of waiting for it to earn your respect, show respect until there is a legitimate reason for change.
Categories: Opinion
