Respect - What is it?

It is that status that you earn from others by the quality of your deeds, your actions and how you handle yourself in the situation given.

True respect can not be purchased. It must be earned. Respect is a fragile gift we are given by others in our environment. It can create bonds strong as steel, but can be shattered as easily as shattering fine crystal.

The saying "You should respect your elders" always baffled me. Yes, we should be mindful that their life has brought them more experience, but not everyone who is older is necessarily wiser. In many cases, our elders do deserve our respect, but it still must be earned for it to have merit in our lives. Blind respect is like walking up to someone on the street and handing them a blank check and asking them to book a trip for both of you. You may get taken for the ride of your life or you may go on beautiful journey.

Last night, my respect for one of my fellow employees was shattered. I have been having issues with this employee coming to me for help and then telling everyone how great I am. I have never been one to outright ask for any kind of recognition or fame. Just let me do my job and I will do what it takes to get it done.

I once thought highly of this lady because she gave me some mental support when my mom was going through the early stages of cancer. Lately, however, she has become more and more dependant on my knowledge and it has begun to interupt my own ability to complete my work.

Here's the issue that broke the fragile bonds of respect. We our out working on-site for the company. Last night on our way back from the office we came up the on ramp to the interstate to find it blocked by an accident, a fairly recent accident. Fire, EMS and Police vehicles were converging from every direction. I assisted in directing traffic to open the ramp so that Emergency Vehicles could get to the accident scene. A police office came and told us to turn around and go the wrong way down the ramp. At the bottom of the ramp, he and a second officer who just arrived began to critique the intersection and decide how best to handle the problem. My coworker starts yelling through the windshield that he is an ass and doesn't know what he is doing. She was not joking about how they were handling the situation. She was down right mad at him. I finally yelled at her to "Shut up! You're not helping the situation!"

You may think me a bad person for doing this to my elder. Here's my thing. I was a volunteer firefighter from the time I was 16 up until I moved away at age 26. I worked as Head of Security for a local race track. I have been trained and have dealt with accidents on the highway. They are not something you can just magically do. There is no set book response that happens at each one. They are all different and must be evaluated independantly. It takes time to make safe and sound decisions that will help clear up the traffic jam and preserve the accident scene. I took great offence at her screaming and call the officer names as he was just doing his job.

I have a big problem with disrespect of emergency service workers. I have, too many times, been in that position where someone screams and yells at you for taking an extra bit of time to set up. What they don't usually see is that this little bit of extra time maybe the thing that keeps someone else from getting hurt, keeps the injured from dieing or being paralyzed for life or even makes their trip home just a tiny bit easier because the time was taken to allow you to go back down the ramp safely and find another route home.

The officer didn't have to let us turn around and go down the on ramp. He could have made us sit there until the accident was clear. Yet she had the nerve to yell at him about how he did his job. I'm sorry, but I can't stand that kind of opinionation. I would like to see her out there dealing with the traffic jam and safety concerns he had on his shoulders at that time. She couldn't do it any better.

End of rant. Thank you for reading.