This I Believe

I believe in respect. Respect for everything with no questions asked. Respect for your friends and enemies alike, respect for nature, respect for your family, and respect for yourself, which in my opinion is the most important kind of respect. Respect requires effort but the reward is awesome.

Three summers ago, I happened to be leaving a mall when I saw 4 or 5 kids torturing a turtle behind some bushes. It was a box turtle no more than 5 inches big. They were chucking it around like a ball when one of them dropped it. I walked over and the kids ran away abandoning the turtle. I inspected it more closely it to find that one of its front legs was badly twisted. I took it home and wrapped its leg, and gave it food. I took the turtle outside when the weather was nice, and it tried to walk. Day by day it walked and walked, and before a year had passed by, it was walking fine. I felt good that I had helped the turtle and knew that it was time to let it go. I reluctantly relinquished it knowing that it was the right thing to do.

Two days later, the turtle came back. I was ecstatic; I was not expecting that at all. I gave it food and watched it for a while then I went inside to help my brother fix his bicycle. When I came back, the turtle was still there. I immediately dug for the box I had kept it in so I could shelter it overnight.

Looking back now at this experience, I begin to think that respect is something that the more you give it away, the more you have and the happier you are. I learned that I should respect everything because that way, I will lead the best life that I can. I remember in karate, they once told us that respect brings order to where there would be chaos. To always show respect for property, laws, ethics, morals, nature, other people, and ourselves, is to maintain a positive outcome in this world. We learned that as we respect all that is around us we have a better understanding of everything.

I know that they teach us about respect in school, and that we should respect each other and the property, but they don’t tell us what we get out of it. They don’t go into detail about how much we get out of just a little respect. They don’t tell is that it is the best feeling to have when everyone respects you. Not just that, but it’s an even better feeling when you know you have earned it.

I have experienced many situations teaching me respect and still have a lot more to learn. Respect is something that I firmly believe in. Respect is what makes people successful and it is what gets people to high places. I will always try to respect the turtles; and by that I mean everything in my life. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Men are respectable only as they respect” and this, I believe.