KoshNaranek
Headphoneus Supremus
Since our childhood days, we had been taught and guided by our parents, elders and teachers to have respect to the elders and to be polite. As infants, our brains were not yet mature enough to understand or to absorb complicated things. So, just to respect the elders and to be polite seemed as easy as bowing our heads when passing in front of them and speak politely or sweetly. So, I would bow my head as low as I could when I pass in front of the elders as a show of respect and spoke very politely to them. In our Myanmar culture and also, may be in other civilized cultures, the behaviours of the children are deemed to reflect their parentages and upbringings.
As I grew up, I began to understand that we should respect everyone who deserves to be respected though they may be younger or junior to us or in other words, have mutual respects irrespective of age. Also, I came to realize that just showing respect and speaking politely are not enough as behaviours, mentalities and attitudes also define a person’s character. Thus, such bad mannerisms should also be avoided.
Every culture has it’s own norms or standards for respect and politeness, but they will differ from one another. Certain behaviours may be acceptable in one culture, but that same behaviour may not be acceptable and seen as rude by another culture. So, it is important that we should know what is acceptable and what is not by certain people of different cultures.
Different countries have different cultures and even in the same country, different communities have different cultures. These cultures are evolved gradually since time immemorial and become the accepted norms to be observed where respect and politeness are concerned, for that particular community. In some communities they may even be found incorperated into their religions.
For instance, in Buddhism, we have “The Mangala Sutta”, where the “Thirty Eight Mangalars”, which can be roughly translated as “auspiciousness” that every good Buddhists must observe, are outlined. According to that Thirty Eight Mangalars, giving respect to those who deserved to be respected is one of the Mangalars. Those that deserved to be respected includes the Buddha, Dahhamas—the teachings of the Buddha, Sanghas or monks, Teachers and Parents. As being Buddhists, we are also being taught to respect anyone who is older by “one day or one morning”. There are also guidances to be polite in speech and behaviours in the Mangala Sutta. Likewise, every other cultures and religions too may also have their own teachings related to respect and politeness.
However, today, we are witnessing the deteriorations in many cultures around the world including our country, as more and more people are getting unpolite to the point of rudeness and have no respect or regards whatsoever for others, including the elders. This trend is more common among the younger generations. This statement can be proven by just having a peek at the social media pages. As the Facebook is the most popular and extensively used by the Myanmars, if you should surf its pages you are bound to realize, within minutes, how rude and low-down many Facebook users, both males and females have become. Abusing and cursing in the filthiest and foulest of languages are becoming the standard language of the Facebook for Myanmars.
There, you can find all kinds of unimaginable foul and filthy languages being used, readily, in making comments or in many cases they are not even comments, but just obscene remarks to vent their perverted minds. Obscene languages used openly on the Facebook are worse than those found in pornographic materials. The four-letter words, or obscene words, which are taboo in the print media are becoming common place on the social media.
Recently I was involved in a heated debate on an important issue related to a certain profession on the Facebook. An old acquaintance and a Facebook of mine made a very important advice to the authorities concerned. He is one of the authoritative and respected person in that profession and used to share his experiences and valuable advices with the new generations of his profession. I see him as a widely respected person by the new generations of that profession. As I have had some experience in that field early on in my career, I made a comment on his post. My comment was a bit contradictory to his ideas, so, out of politeness I ended my comment with an apology to that person by writing “I may be a bit outdated. Pardon me if I’m wrong”.
I was shocked to see an unexpected response to my comment. It wasn’t from my friend, who posted on the Facebook, but a young upstart officer from that profession who I don’t know. He wrote that I was not only a bit outdated but totally outdated and wrong, without pointing out in what way I was wrong. If he should have given sound reasons for his remarks, to convince me I was wrong, I would have admitted that I was wrong and thanked him. I wasn’t angry at him, but pitied him for his ignorance and thus I tried to explain to him the reasons behind my comments. He became more arrogant and replied that old persons don’t want to admit their mistakes and added that just being old didn’t make one a leader, a common usage popular on the Facebook among our young people of today. Though he was arrogant and rude, at least he didn’t use abusive language. For that I thank him.
In this case, I wasn’t the only one, who was rudely insulted or attacked by young individuals, but the person who initially made the post, too, was openly challenged and insulted by some who are very junior to him in that profession. This is just an example of the deterioration of the behaviourism of our young people today. They have no respect for age or the wisdoms of the older generations and thought that we are the extinct dinosaurs. I am game to criticisms and arguments and challenges to my views and outlooks, if done in a gentlemanly manner with mutual respects to one another. However, being rudely insulted without discussing the matter reasonably, is quite unacceptable.
I was wondering, how our cultural traits, that we used to take much pride in, had become so low-down and who or what are to be blamed. Is it the parentage or the upbringing of the individuals or the systems they had been subjected to for decades or the unrestricted freedom provided by the social media? Though we might be able to find the answer to that question, it wouldn’t be easy for the mentalities or the mindsets of the people to be changed overnight. However, it should be attempted before it’s too late !
- Khin Maung Myint
As I grew up, I began to understand that we should respect everyone who deserves to be respected though they may be younger or junior to us or in other words, have mutual respects irrespective of age. Also, I came to realize that just showing respect and speaking politely are not enough as behaviours, mentalities and attitudes also define a person’s character. Thus, such bad mannerisms should also be avoided.
Every culture has it’s own norms or standards for respect and politeness, but they will differ from one another. Certain behaviours may be acceptable in one culture, but that same behaviour may not be acceptable and seen as rude by another culture. So, it is important that we should know what is acceptable and what is not by certain people of different cultures.
Different countries have different cultures and even in the same country, different communities have different cultures. These cultures are evolved gradually since time immemorial and become the accepted norms to be observed where respect and politeness are concerned, for that particular community. In some communities they may even be found incorperated into their religions.
For instance, in Buddhism, we have “The Mangala Sutta”, where the “Thirty Eight Mangalars”, which can be roughly translated as “auspiciousness” that every good Buddhists must observe, are outlined. According to that Thirty Eight Mangalars, giving respect to those who deserved to be respected is one of the Mangalars. Those that deserved to be respected includes the Buddha, Dahhamas—the teachings of the Buddha, Sanghas or monks, Teachers and Parents. As being Buddhists, we are also being taught to respect anyone who is older by “one day or one morning”. There are also guidances to be polite in speech and behaviours in the Mangala Sutta. Likewise, every other cultures and religions too may also have their own teachings related to respect and politeness.
However, today, we are witnessing the deteriorations in many cultures around the world including our country, as more and more people are getting unpolite to the point of rudeness and have no respect or regards whatsoever for others, including the elders. This trend is more common among the younger generations. This statement can be proven by just having a peek at the social media pages. As the Facebook is the most popular and extensively used by the Myanmars, if you should surf its pages you are bound to realize, within minutes, how rude and low-down many Facebook users, both males and females have become. Abusing and cursing in the filthiest and foulest of languages are becoming the standard language of the Facebook for Myanmars.
There, you can find all kinds of unimaginable foul and filthy languages being used, readily, in making comments or in many cases they are not even comments, but just obscene remarks to vent their perverted minds. Obscene languages used openly on the Facebook are worse than those found in pornographic materials. The four-letter words, or obscene words, which are taboo in the print media are becoming common place on the social media.
Recently I was involved in a heated debate on an important issue related to a certain profession on the Facebook. An old acquaintance and a Facebook of mine made a very important advice to the authorities concerned. He is one of the authoritative and respected person in that profession and used to share his experiences and valuable advices with the new generations of his profession. I see him as a widely respected person by the new generations of that profession. As I have had some experience in that field early on in my career, I made a comment on his post. My comment was a bit contradictory to his ideas, so, out of politeness I ended my comment with an apology to that person by writing “I may be a bit outdated. Pardon me if I’m wrong”.
I was shocked to see an unexpected response to my comment. It wasn’t from my friend, who posted on the Facebook, but a young upstart officer from that profession who I don’t know. He wrote that I was not only a bit outdated but totally outdated and wrong, without pointing out in what way I was wrong. If he should have given sound reasons for his remarks, to convince me I was wrong, I would have admitted that I was wrong and thanked him. I wasn’t angry at him, but pitied him for his ignorance and thus I tried to explain to him the reasons behind my comments. He became more arrogant and replied that old persons don’t want to admit their mistakes and added that just being old didn’t make one a leader, a common usage popular on the Facebook among our young people of today. Though he was arrogant and rude, at least he didn’t use abusive language. For that I thank him.
In this case, I wasn’t the only one, who was rudely insulted or attacked by young individuals, but the person who initially made the post, too, was openly challenged and insulted by some who are very junior to him in that profession. This is just an example of the deterioration of the behaviourism of our young people today. They have no respect for age or the wisdoms of the older generations and thought that we are the extinct dinosaurs. I am game to criticisms and arguments and challenges to my views and outlooks, if done in a gentlemanly manner with mutual respects to one another. However, being rudely insulted without discussing the matter reasonably, is quite unacceptable.
I was wondering, how our cultural traits, that we used to take much pride in, had become so low-down and who or what are to be blamed. Is it the parentage or the upbringing of the individuals or the systems they had been subjected to for decades or the unrestricted freedom provided by the social media? Though we might be able to find the answer to that question, it wouldn’t be easy for the mentalities or the mindsets of the people to be changed overnight. However, it should be attempted before it’s too late !
- Khin Maung Myint
