There are very basic things that we often tend to forget.  These are the very basic things that makes our lives far more beautiful that what we can ever think of or perceive.  We need to simply understand that such small things go a long way in cementing human relationships all along the way.

One of such very basic things is the value of respect.  What exactly do we mean by respect?  What we mean by respect is the ability to openly acknowledge the greatness or uniqueness of the human being, or simply an acknowledgement for the human being for whatever he is.

Be that as it may, the practice of giving respect is very basic to human nature, and should be inculcated as a very important aspect of discipline in children.  Gone are the days when respect was given to the parents, and children would never dare to speak in front of the father, though the mother was more kind and would actually hear the child out. 

In the past, even in the 1960s and the 1970s, one could see this respect for the elders, from even men and women, who were as old as fifty or sixty.

How quickly has times changed, can be easily understood from the present day practices,where the children do not respect the other people at all and, worse, have total disrespect or disdain for those who are lower than them in the economic pecking order.

The present development is very dangerous and should be reversed at least, to some extent.

Why is respect for others, important?

Firstly, respect for others, means that we are, or will become, more level headed.  We will become more empathic towards others.

Secondly, respecting others will help us overcome jealousy, and make us more open to acknowledging merit.  Once this happens, there will be an automatic thinking and urge within us to do additional hard work to reach the levels of excellence of those, for whom we give special respect.

Thirdly, it is always wise to respect anyone more than our age, and even those who are younger.  It is indeed a great thing to see people in Coimbatore city and in the district, in Tamil Nadu, generally addressing even very young people as "neenga".  This is the equivalent of what is called 'aap" in Hindi, and is the just opposite of the rude form of address as 'nee", which is the equivalent of "thum" in Hindi, meaning disrespect.  The word 'nee' is used for all and sundry in Chennai, and this is a very dangerous practice, and it often puts off customers in shops and establishments, who feel very offended when someone calls them 'nee".

Even within the State of Tamil Nadu, we have two different sets of respect shown to people. 

Fourthly, giving respect gives a very good picture of our personality to the other person, who starts to believe in us, and trust us.  Not only does our ego get satisfied, we would tend to think that the world has a number of good people, spreading goodwill all around.

Fifthly, by giving respect, our minds become more calm, more relaxed and we can focus far better, on what needs to be done, as a matter of priority.

Sixthly, we will be able to see a good change in the other person.  Not only will he or she open up, but will also start sharing their experiences, and this will open up new vistas of learning.  

We also need to understand that it does not make any sense to disrespect any person.  If we do so, we will be considered as persons unfit to understand the world, unfit to adjust with others and unfit as team players. 

More often than not, we land up in trouble only when our ego stops us from respecting the other person.  Very simply, if we pack up our egos and stop giving respect to our own egos, we can easily see the merit in other persons and start behaving accordingly. 

So, giving respect to others, brings us back the same respect.  When we do this continuously, we will be able to achieve greater success than ever before, in our personal lives.

Of course, we are also doing society a great service, for,  it will become a much better place to live in.