Two different concepts, two different mentalities, both of these words have a different meaning. Which one is more important? I say self-respect, because to me happiness is fleeting or temporary, however if one has self-respect that will always be with them until they go to the grave. I also believe that self-respect strongly defines one's character and sets a standards for those around that person to follow if they have self-respect. One other reason why self-respect is more important is because if one person does not have that, then what is the point of that person even living, they are only making themselves subject to other people's will making them no better than a lifeless doll. To me, that is one of the worst ways to live life, being at the beckoning of other people, which is absolutely disgusting.
As for the concept of happiness, it is always fleeting, not everyone can achieve it or can be allowed to experience it. It is also temporary, as it can either be related to someone or something else and if that something or someone goes, so does one's happiness. As for the emotion, well emotions do not last forever, although it may feel that way to certain people, but even happiness can be swayed as well and to be honest I would not hold my breath for something that is temporary, ever.
Back to self-respect now, to me the word self-respect means "respecting yourself" (although that is an obvious definition) and to hold yourself to a high standard. It also helps me shut out those who try to use me to satisfy their superficial whims and to set an example that I am not some clone like nearly every other person that exists around me. However if one person allows to be deluded by their own self-respect that is called being "conceited", which consists of over-confidence, arrogance, and narcissism usually. If one where to adopt this type of behavior and force the above mentioned traits upon other people that person will lose integrety and be considered just another (insert description here).
I have a lot of self-respect, too much for some people. But that just shows how little they know of me and the type of life I have led. If someone from my high school saw me as I am today and had not seen or heard from me since then they would think I was a different person, but that is fine with me, I do not like being as I was in high school because it sucked. I also do not believe in adopting a fake happiness, or pretending to be happy and nice to other because that is not how I live my life. Unlike most people I am honest with my character and I always say what I feel like saying without any sugar-coating because that will only just inhibit my own style and I also have way too much self-respect to lower myself to everyone elses' half-witted standards.
Linden,
ReplyDeleteI really wanted to do this topic out of the three prompts, but was too intimidated by the question. Personally, I thought that happiness is more important than self-respect but I knew something was already wrong with that idea. I completely agree that having self-respect sets a standard for the people around me, which I think is your biggest point. Perhaps the reason why I thought happiness was more important is because the idea seems so easy and blissful. One thing that I may be in disagreement is that “happiness is temporary”. Some happiness is very short and swift but true happiness is not. That is the kind of happiness that I look forward to when the question came up. True happiness is very satisfying and worthwhile. To get there though, it takes a lot of hard work and effort. No it is not always great but to reach true happiness, it takes some suffering and some lessons to be learned. After reading your entry, I completely agree that self-respect comes before happiness. It is definitely important to set standards for yourself and for the people around you. To arrive at true happiness, self-respect is absolutely necessary. Great work Linden! You are very inspirational and straightforward.