Monday, June 30, 2008

Respect in a different perspective

Every Filipino-raised child in this world is taught a great deal about respect. We have almost have infinite forms of it. We add words in our sentences to show it like "po" and "opo". Whenever we meet our elders, we take their hand and touch it to our foreheads. We say "kuya", "ate", "tito", "tita" to practically everyone that is older than our age group. In old tagalog, there is even a name for every rank of the siblings. Considering the large numbers of children in the family, simply calling everyone older than you as "ate" and "kuya" just doesn't seem to be enough. There is the "diko", "ditse", "sanko" and "sanse". At schools, we address teachers and staff as ma'ams and sirs. This extends to the workplace when we give everyone in higher positions specific titles. The company I worked before goes beyond that. In there you call everyone, boss. I found it funny at first. But you learn to play along after awhile. And the list goes on and on. This is the Filipino way.

This is the way I was brought up in. And I have always wondered what the western way was like because it was supposed to be very different. I have heard stories that children call their parents by their first names. For me that was unthinkable. So when I got to Iceland I found out that it was really different.

For starters, everyone calls everyone by their first names. Yep as strange as it may seem, that is how it is here. So you'll never hear a person being called Mr. Lastname, as you would oftentimes be called in the Philippines. That goes true even at work. You don't have to call your boss, boss or sir. It got a little uncomfortable for me when I went to school. It just felt awkward calling your teachers by their first names. That took some getting used to.

It may sound strange especially for Filipinos, but the good thing is people still respect each other. The Icelanders don't need to use titles to show respect. They show it by the way they act and relate to other people. That is their way. I'm not saying this is better or worse than what I've been used to. I mean, it worked for them. Our way worked for us. It's just a different way of expressing it. I wouldn't have known that if I haven't lived in another country. This is just one of the many realizations that I made since getting here.

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