Respect

It occurs to me that this simple act of kindness from one individual to another is quickly falling through the combined grasp of humanity. Way back in 2017 I was moved to try to express respect positively, in a thought provoking way, to capture the essence in an acronym. Each word was chosen carefully with the intent of expressing a complete thought about what "Respect" really entails. The acronym insidiously calls for action toward another person. A poster with this acronym has hung in my classroom for two years.

RESPECT:

R eliably

E xpress

S incere

P oliteness,

E ssentially

C omplete

T houghtfulness

It was intended to be a phrase, that we could put it in a sentence and make perfect grammatical sense: "I want to have RESPECT toward others." or expanded to: "I want to Reliably Express Sincere Politeness, Essentially Complete Thoughtfulness toward others!" The only way to truly manifest this expression is through actions: hold the door, say good morning, listen with understanding when they speak, say please, say thank you, ask how they are today.

Perhaps one of the best expressions I have ever heard in this line of thinking was coined by Theresa Dames, a former Chemistry Teacher colleague. She would always ask her students, "How's Life?" and then she would wait patiently and intently for their answer from which she would build a profound conversation; truly an act of respect in every sense of the word. The directions the conversations might go were diverse. When a student was asked after the encounter how they felt, the answer was always something around how they truly felt "Respected".

Respectfully,

Dave