Apr 09 2009
Disrespect
“Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too.”
Will Smith
I unfortunately had the distinct displeasure of seeing disrespect first hand last evening. I went to a concert where my dear friend was performing with her quartet. It was a beautiful show of which I will be reviewing on My City By The Bay blog later this week. I still have three more shows to attend.
Before each song my friend would say something about the song and the songwriter and would sometimes throw in a little wit which the audience loved. However there was a man in the crowd who found it necessary to heckle her between songs. Whenever she began speaking he would blurt out something by either repeating what she was saying or he would ask a stupid question. Now, I know her very well so I know how she was feeling while he was doing this yet, she handled it amazingly well. The first couple of times she responded very nicely to his heckling and by the end of the show she merely ignored it. It was disturbing to everyone.
His behavior during the performance is the perfect example of ego ruling your actions. The negativity was clear and displayed throughout a room full of patrons enjoying a concert. Why he felt the need to do this I will never know however it’s a perfect example of ego ridden behavior.
As the night went on I became more and more angry with each of his heckles. It infuriates me when someone I care about is being disrespected. At one point I actually, without even thinking began to get up when my friend sitting next to me stopped me. My reaction to his actions, feeling angry and wanting to do something about it, was just as bad as his heckling. My reaction came from my ego. I had the choice to get angry or simply ignore it and I chose to get angry. I’m glad I didn’t act on that anger.
Here are some suggestions:
1. Simply let go and let God. We choose our behavior. When we see someone disrespecting someone else we can take the high road and either ignore it or gently tell the person who is being disrespectful that his or her behavior is not condoned.
2. Being disrespectful towards another human being is despicable. Never let your ego choose dominance over another person.
rainfield - Very well said. Thank you.
You were right not to act on your anger. Ignoring it is one thing, but for some reason, someone should have said something to the heckler in order for him to stop and realize what a nuisance he was. That being said, I’d probably do the same thing.
Diva - Thanks, and I agree someone should have said something like the staff. Thanks for commenting