Respect

[Jozanny]

Courtesy and friendship are the major things I'm getting at here. Can we be at lease courteous to people with whom we disagree? Can we still find a bond of friendship? I believe we can look beyond differences and have relationships, friendships, and respect.

Courtesy and friendship are two different things, and with very very rare exceptions, online posters are never my friends, shocking as that may seem. Will I intentionally flame a forum user? No. Are any of you meaningful people to me? No. This isn't to say I have not made interesting online contacts, but they are in the exception, not the rule, and rarely does it go beyond a nice meal and pleasant conversation.

[papayahed]

To me respect and how I treat people are seperate issue. I don't really think about respect as a "thing" so I think I'm of the "respect everyone" variety. I can only think of one person I didn't think much of but even in that case once I got to know him better that changed.

I think respect has little to do with how I treat people. I don't have to respect a person to treat them in a respectful manner.

[blazeofglory]

Respect is accepting others' importance and existence.

[NikolaiI]

Respect is accepting others' importance and existence.

I really like this. It seems like a great definition - showing you value their importance and existence. And the reverse is true for the definition of lack of respect; showing you think they have no value is exactly what no respect is.

So the best way to show respect is to give the impression or simply state that you value the other person highly.