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Egay Uy .

WHEN somebody speaks ill of some others or uses gutter-language or foul language, or resorts to name-calling, he may be said to be showing disrespect towards the object or objects of his rant, tirade, or invectives. For me however, the speaker actually does not only actually disrespect the object of what he speaks. He disrespects himself more.

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We all know that respect is earned.  It cannot be demanded from anybody, otherwise it becomes artificial and will not really mean anything.  Plastikan kung baga. You earn it through the manner you carry yourself before others or by the way you behave in general.

Somebody who holds a high position in an office, or who is a professional, e.g., lawyer, doctor, degree holder, a professor or teacher, and the like, is often expected by people to behave accordingly so he would not step on the shoes of some others and may lead to being misconstrued as having disrespected his fellowmen.

Sadly sometimes, the unguarded or deliberate utterances or writings on Facebook could lead to blood relations being severed, especially when sides are taken, sometimes rabidly or unreasonably, of political fences.  More sadly, the personalities we may be rooting for, come what may, do not even know or recognize us.

My 23-year old son Jose Olegario, aptly posted “It’s your call” on his Facebook wall. It reads: “It makes me sad that family ties, relationships, and friendships are ruined because of differing political opinions (or different opinions in general). This reminds me of what’s going on in the United States where Republicans and Democrats are pitting against each other because of their differing opinions.

“You’re pro-Yellow? Great.  You’re pro-DDS? Great.  You’re anti-Yellow? Great. You’re anti-DDS? Great. You’re neutral? Great.  You have the right to defend your beliefs. You have the right to hold whatever opinion you may have.  It’s called freedom of speech and freedom of expression.

“However, you have no right to destroy your relationship with someone (unless you don’t care anymore) just because you have differing opinions from each other. Name-calling, use of foul language and below-the-belt arguments are not and should not count as argument.  That’s not bravery and being firm to your beliefs. That’s IMMATURITY.

“At the end of the day, we should not be forgetting about RESPECT.  I hope to see a day that, no matter how much we disagree on a lot of things, we can at least find a MIDDLE GROUND where we can agree on something.”

We all have our imperfections as individuals, as parents, as siblings, as husbands or wives, as members of society.  I hope we will not allow these imperfections to ruin relationships that we have been taught to take care of since we learned to understand spoken words and after we learned to speak “dada”, “papa”, “mama” or made our first steps to the delight of our parents, uncles and aunties.

Let’s go back to the basics – nurture relationships and respect one another.  But in the end, it’s your call, indeed.

 

(Erratum: This has been updated because the head should have read “It’s your call,” and not “It’s your running” as first posted. Our apologies for the oversight.)

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