The Role of Respect in Relationships
Authored by: Priya Pasumarthy

Respect can be defined as an attribute or a feeling of deep admiration over the qualities or abilities of people or entities or organizations exhibited. It plays a colossal role in all kinds of relationships. Relationships encompassing professional, business, Family, Friendship, and personal or love regardless, respect would be the core in imparting lasting relationships. Respect builds up with other attributes to become stronger and contributes to a valued relationship status. On the contrary, when respect starts to get deprived in a relationship it would strain the existing relationship that gets reflected as frustrations and when not fixed in time it could steer to damaging the relationship totally. It will be crucial to gauge respect in relationships as it is Square 1. The role Respect plays in relationships is massive. We will be examining the role of Respect in relationships through simple depictions.

Respect goes hand in hand with several core attributes that are fundamental to developing strong relationships. A relationship begins with respect or regard and then gets layered with trust followed by “at valued” status in relationships. This pretty much defines a relationship that is Strong. This is a typical depiction of relationships such as Professional, business, and inter -intra Family/Friendship that have a direct dynamic. The give-and-take transactions are transparent in this model. The involved parties are mutually confident and comfortable having set their priorities in alignment. Any breach to this ideal phase could disturb the relationship sequentially. This would shrink the involved dimensions including value, trust, and respect to vice versa. Timely actions should be taken to avoid damages.

The personal and love relationships are a bit complex that have extra layers added to the previous model. It is often cited that a love relationship begins as a connection(emotional)/a deja vu or as a physical attraction between the two parties involved. The physicality dimension is a significant contributing factor. Love relationships usually have a pattern of getting deeper and stronger with safer experimentation. Respect at the core followed by trust followed by “at valued” status followed by bonding. That very sense of mutual belonging sets the pavement in the relationship. There are several other parameters that would make love relationships lasting. The age of the individuals, emotional maturity, understanding, finances, health, fecundity, climate, culture, traditions, and faith are a few to mention that influence (individually or in combination) the longevity of a Love relationship. A difference or deprivation of one or more of these parameters could disturb the Love relationships. Both individuals need to gauge the disturbances and patch up to avoid any eventual major damages.

We can see how Respect plays a colossal role in any kind of relationship. It is the square 1 or Tier 1 to which other layers get added. There are several other parameters whose functioning influence the longevity of the relationships be it Professional/business or Family/Friendship and Love relationships.