Respect

I believe that one of the main problems in society is a lack of respect. I don't mean just "respect for elders" or respect for people in positions of authority. To have a successful society respect has to go much deeper than that. The president has to respect every citizen of the country he serves. A teacher has to respect every student he teaches. A doctor has to respect his patients.

Last week I set up an advising session with one of my teachers for 3:30. At 4:15, she showed up and told me that she had to do an impromptu meeting with somebody else that would probably last about 30 minutes. So I ended up waiting over an hour for a meeting that never even happened. She did not think of me, nor did she think of the other two students waiting for her with me whose meetings were at 3:45 and 4:00. She had no respect for us as people. That incident is making it very difficult for me to respect her, despite the fact that she could be a deciding factor in whether or not I have a future job.

If there were respect between people; if everyone valued others as much as they value themselves, there would be considerably less crime, poverty, and other things detrimental to society. I realize I am dreaming of a world that will never exist, but without dreams there would be no progress, so I will continue dreaming of a world where everybody respects everybody else.