Respect

I have been talking to my students about this concept. Actually, I just "fell" into the topic when we were discussing something else. Now I remember. The male students were discussing a concept in domestic violence. How would your family deal with domestic violence --- or, more specifically, now would you deal with domestic violence if you knew it was going on in your family between spouses. That question was met with a question. " Is it happening between my older brother and his spouse or between my younger brother and his spouse?" What kind of a question is that? So, I asked, "Does it make a difference?" The answer, of course, is "yes". Now the respect lesson. If the abuser is your older brother, you would not talk to him directly. You would have to talk to your father about it and see if your father would talk to him. If it was your younger brother, you would talk directly to him and immediately chastise him and he would listen. So, the younger sibling must "obey" the older sibling? Absolutely. What a concept. Actually, what a foreign concept. So. I asked the female students. Same response. Only they decided I needed more of an explanation. It works like this. Even amoung friends, if your friend is "bigger" (which means older), you must respect the opinion of that person. There is a saying here. It is "one day older is a year older". Makes no sense to me, but I guess that means even if you are one day older than your friend, you are owed the respect of your friend as if you were much older. I started thinking about this concept. It sounds like a very good idea to me. Fortunately, my family reads my blog with some regularity. Which means they are reading what I am writing here. I am the oldest of 4 children. Therefore I am "bigger". My siblings are supposed to listen to me. I can already feel the respect. I plan to take what I have learned here and apply it to my life back in the U.S. Not everything. Just the things I like. This is one of those things I like.