Respect. Everyone is talking about it but no one is saying it – respect. Respect for other people, opinions, beliefs and ourselves. Sadly, the term love has lost many of its definitions and now seems to be either a religious or sexual term. The term respect, however, still remains universally understood.

Respect other people. Whether man or woman; elder or child; born or unborn; heterosexual or homosexual, all should be respected as any other person. Respect opinions. Respect other’s opinions and, more importantly, respect your own opinion. Know what you’re talking about or say you’re not sure. Don’t make something up.

Respect religion/beliefs. Yes, religion should be discussed because it always leads to an increase in faith; you may find that what you stand for is not what you believe and have faith in. You can’t really discuss religion unless you have some information about “that religion” and your own. Knowing a religion means knowing what followers should be doing, not what they are doing.

Respect yourself. Elders and children usually have strong morals. Can you tell your grandparents or your kids what you’ve been up to? I think that many of the issues brought up in the papers lately wouldn’t be issues if a little respect was given. Vandalism, protests and counter protests, abortion, Generation Me and murder would not happen. I realize this is an ideal but if we set our standards high, we can only improve.

Matthew HeinJunior, Mechanical Engineering