Less of a concrete question and more of a general topic. What does it mean to disrespect one’s parents? Much in the same way that we often struggle with the meaning of “honour thy father and mother”, the people who suggest that it is bad to disrespect your parents often have very different ideas of what exactly that entails.
Disrespect is literally the antithesis of respect, that much is inherent in its very structure and is a bit of a no-brainer. If respect is a positive feeling towards someone or something, in the sense of being honourable, then to disrespect someone is to feel that their actions are worthy only of distain and rudeness. By that definition, it is incredibly easy to disrespect our parents.
I can say for sure that at one point or another I have disrespected my parents. It is inevitable to do so at one point or another just because of those awful teen years where you are so cocky and self assured that your parents Must Be Wrong About Everything. It isn’t just the teen years unfortunately, but they do bear a fair amount of the blame for kicking everything off. That said, there is no excuse for such behaviour. Our parents often do wonderful things for us, and often times it can take years to truly understand the sacrifices and lessons that they try to equip us with for life outside of the sheltered nest of our homes. Does this apply to every parent? No, not necessarily - I do recognize that I have been blessed with an amazing family and that is the only perspective I can really write from. But I do believe that respect is a two-way street and that there is a lot of value to be had in recognizing and celebrating our parents, even if that isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do.
Again, do I have the greatest relationship with my parents? Not as much as I would like. But I’m taking my own advice and I’m working on it. Life is a journey, what else can you do?
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