Respect, Respekt, Hormat, respeto

Mentality is how we think and the norm how we act facing normal situations in our everyday lives. It took me one year to notice this and after i notice this, and confirm this based on countless of this occurrences happening in front of my eyes, I hereby confirm it and wish to put as a stance to how I think.

I have so far had talks with countless of people from different races and countries. Germans, Lebanese, Africans, French, Russians, and others and therefore, I noticed a golden personality that people from less developed countries have that people from highly developed countries don’t.

People from highly developed countries in my case don’t have simplicity, respect, inner peace and most importantly, they have an extremely high sense of individualism. Perhaps these traits gave rise to their monopoly in the fields of science and maths during the 20th century. In my opinion, if the fields of science is developed based on these traits, it’s like eating bread without filling. eating plain spaghetti without sauce or drinking coffee without sugar. A sort of emptiness which exists when a person with countless riches don’t have faith and have no family.

The golden personality that most of us Asians have are faith, peace of mind, serenity and a sense of belonging to the society around. That’s why, when the west and the east collide, it gave rise to conflicts and dilemmas. The westerners are to individualistic to share their technology and the easterners fail to catch up due to their high sense of belonging to their society. Now some of us Asians really want to be westerners at the same time leaving behind the foundations of faith which made the society of their forefathers stand (like a few I know).

In the Islamic teachings, and also a few philosophies in the east like Taoism or Buddhism, it is sought for that we have respect for the elders for they are wiser in their own way. If someone loses this respect, therefore, we gain nothing. In other words, ‘hilang berkat’ or ‘lose the blessings’. (correct me please if I’m wrong). This teaching is very foreign to the western culture and is mostly perceived as a sign of weakness, low self esteem or incompetence.

This does not mean that we must listen blindly to what old people say, for they too are imperfect humans. But when they make a mistake, it’s ideal to speak to them nicely, humbly and kindly so as we don’t cause tensions that might break out into war or conflicts. Not lash at them like mindless hooligans.

So, I pray that the human race is blessed with an open mind and with the resolve to fix this world instead of bringing harm to it. Amin.