Steve Evans

Ms. K. Anthony

ENG. 101-111

20 FEB. 2014

                                                        Why I Live the Way I Live

            I believe that we all have a set of beliefs, values, or principles that guide us through our daily lives. They can be as different as the stars in the sky or can be shared as a common thread or motivating factor within a group of people with a common goal. I feel that most people’s beliefs, values, and principles follow a positive path and help us as a society in the way we choose to interact with each other throughout the world. The question of do people believe in negative beliefs, values, or principles can be a difficult one to answer. Not so long ago people showed respect based on the color of your skin, your sexual preference, or even your gender. I believe in the past some people would classify those as negative values, beliefs, or principles but it seems apparent to me that society’s beliefs changed becoming more tolerant and respectful of the rights of all people and the way they choose to live their lives. My personal core belief of respect tops my list. My parents taught this concept beyond all others, and put great importance on it and I chose it to be the cornerstone of my beliefs. Respect can be shown in a gesture like the way you talk to someone or how you treat someone, but it can take many forms.

            The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines respect in several ways such as;” feeling of admiring someone or something that is good, valuable, important, and or a feeling or understanding that someone or something is important, serious, etc., and should be treated in an appropriate way”.  I choose first and foremost to start with the attitude that we all people do not believe the same and our beliefs and values may be different but we as individuals and as a society are entitled to own set of beliefs. To deny someone or something their right to believe the way they choose and to live their life accordingly would deny them the basic right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Throughout history people have fought and sacrificed in their attempt to gain the respect and right to believe in their personal beliefs and live their lives according to those values.

            I was raised in an era that the nation and its people believed differently and they openly and proudly displayed their personal beliefs and protested for change. I can remember the nightly news on the television and seeing college campuses filled with students coming together with common goals and beliefs and showing their support in peaceful demonstrations and marches. The Vietnam War was a prime example where a group of people did not agree with the government’s views and policies and took to the streets to voice their opposition and desire for change. Looking back, it appeared that people forgot about the respect factor. The respect for everyone’s right to exercise free speech. The older generation and the government saw the protestors as un-patriotic and they attempted to somehow undermine the goals of the administration at that time. It couldn’t have been farther from the truth. I can remember Kent State University as one location where two opposing forces collided with deadly results. Some college kids died because of an overzealous National Guard that were armed and who subsequently fired upon the protesters just because one side could not show the other side due respect. That simple principle of respect or lack thereof changed the lives of so many so quickly. I do feel that society’s changing attitude of ensuring no matter what our own beliefs; we honor and respect the right of those whose beliefs differ. I also believe that we as a world bear a long way to go.

            I learned not only to respect other people but to show respect toward all other things, living and not living. I feel that the Native American Indian understood the idea of respect for all things and they showed it in the way they lived. They never killed more buffalo than they needed and they understood the delicate balance between them and nature. It appears to me that they had mastered the concept of respect and they understood the repercussions of living their lives without respect.  My father instilled in me to also respect items that I had purchased such as a car or a house. To have worked and saved enough to buy an item and to not take care of that item would be a sign of disrespect. To respect those things meant to take care of something. To place value on something so as to treat it without respect, that item would suffer or diminish somehow in its value, importance or worth.

Today’s society comprises many groups of people that one desire is to be shown some form of respect in what they deem to be important to them.  Groups like Greenpeace and PETA that put value on all animal life and try to effect change by informing and demonstrating their core belief. There’s groups that seek nothing more than the wanting desire to protect mother earth and its resources. Included also are people that their main goal consist to somehow affect a response of respect toward a value or principal that they feel passionate about. Can someone say one group’s beliefs matter any less important than another’s?  I personally don’t think so, but all we have to do is take a look around the world and it is apparent that many do not believe in the same definition of respect as I do.

            It’s up to all of us to embrace the simple ideology of mutual respect toward all. As I continue on my personal journey through this world, I regretfully watch the slow demise and ultimately the possible extinction of things that as a child I took for granted. I think others feel this pain as I do. We have put such and importance on money and the acquisition thereof; we suffer as a society and we will continue to lose things that we already know we cannot replace. To me, the knowledge of companies that exist today that put a higher importance on profit than they do on the irreversible damage their committing on a rainforest is disrespectful.  The realization that the annihilation of complete species that have yet to be discovered or refusal to understand the magnitude of the destruction of an entire eco-system is a sad commentary of where some of our society place’s its importance. I will continue to offer and show respect to all that I come in contact with and hopefully society as a whole will do the same. With some 6 billion people on this planet, all with their own beliefs, values, and principles, we need to start with the concept of respect first. Without the aim or goal of mutual respect, I believe that society will eventually suffer the consequences and the outcome and the effects will be everlasting.