November 7, 2015 — Respect

Dear William, Daniel, Catherine, Michael (and Baby Girl Y) (and your parents), (and any future descendants and their parents),

Today I want to discuss the concept of RESPECT.

Now, I already spoke to you about RESPECT when I discussed with you “Kissing the hand of a lady” — but, today, I want to go a bit deeper into this topic.

We show RESPECT in many ways; and different societies show RESPECT in their own unique ways.

One such social form of expression for RESPECT is the Japanese bow. In the Japanese bow, the bower expresses appreciation and respect to the person being bowed to by bending at the waist. This is a gesture widely used in tandem with greetings like “ohayo gozaimasu” (good morning) and “konnichi wa” (hello, good afternoon) as well as words of gratitude or apology. Bows can generally be classified into three types depending on the deepness of the waist bend. The most casual bow is the “eshaku” bow. In this bow, the waist is generally bent at about a 15 degree angle. It is common to lightly dip the head and give an “eshaku” bow when exchanging a casual greeting or passing by someone of a higher social status. Of course using words by themselves is sufficient, but if you add an eshaku bow while saying “arigato” (thank you) to someone who has shown you kindness, your feeling of gratitude will come across as incredibly more heartfelt. The bow generally used in business interactions is the “keirei” bow. In this bow, the torso is lowered to about 30 degrees. It is used when entering and leaving reception rooms and meeting rooms and when greeting customers. The “saikeirei” bow, the most polite bow, consists of lowering the torso about 45 degrees. It is used to express feelings of deep gratitude or apology. [ Source: www.jnto.go.jp/eng/indepth/exotic/lifestyle/bow.html ]

In the Military, Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, and other Military Personnel show RESPECT at appropriate times by standing at attention, and by saluting.

We also show RESPECT, respect for the American flag, by saluting the flag.

As I previously discussed, men show RESPECT for women by kissing their hand.

Kissing the ring of a superior is also a sign of RESPECT.

And kissing someone’s feet is also a sign of RESPECT.

In sports, we also show RESPECT for our competitors.

In every-day life, we show RESPECT by shaking-hands when we greet others; or by touching knuckles; or such other similar signs.

We also show RESPECT by tipping a hat (if you are wearing one); and by bowing.

We also show RESPECT by opening-doors for others.

As in every-day life, in business we build strong and effective teams by showing RESPECT to our team-members.

We also show RESPECT to our elders, and our teachers.

In the courtroom, we show RESPECT to a Judge; and on a sports-field, we show RESPECT to a Referee – this comes under the general concept of showing RESPECT for authority.

And, of course, you should RESPECT your Parents, and all other Family-Members, who are your teachers, your care-takers, and your loved-ones.