5. the condition of being esteemed or honored: to be held in respect.
respect - idiom
15. to pay one's respects
b. to express one's sympathy, especially to survivors following a death; We paid our respects to the family.
source: dictionary.com
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Respect
There are sixteen different definitions for respect in the dictionary: eight nouns, four verbs, four idioms. When I first pulled the card "respect," my initial reaction was piece of cake. I tell my students to be respectful all the time. Then I sat down to plan out my piece and realized just how abstract of a concept respect is. I felt like I really needed to understand the concept beyond the, "Hey make sure you're being respectful!" comment that I tell my students. So I asked my very intelligent husband, Dane, "What do you think of when you hear, respect?" After a short rendition of him singing the popular Aretha Franklin song, I realized he was dodging my question and I needed to just google it. I came across the "Encyclopedia of Philosophy" by the fine folks at Stanford and decided to do a little light reading. I found the passage about showing respect for people who have passed really stuck with me.
When I first pulled this card, two weeks ago, several events had taken place. There was the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy's death on November 22. Nelson Mandela passed on December 5th. Pearl Harbor, as President Roosevelt put it, "a date which will live in infamy," was remembered on December 7th. We remembered the precious students and teachers who passed a year ago on December 14th at Sandy Hook Elementary School. I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer during this holiday season. However these events caused me to really think about how we mourn and pay our respects to those who have passed. Whenever there is a tragedy, we come together, we leave mementos, we create memorials.
I wanted to create a piece that would, in a way, pay my respects. Last year I went to New York City and visited the 9/11 Memorial. I was struck by the repetition of names. Names of people who lost their lives too soon. Names and names of people who had families and friends. Names and names of people who had dreams for their future. I snapped the picture of our flag left behind at one of the fountains. It reminded me that as divided as we can be on so many political issues, we can still come together and help others when they are hurting. We remember those who have passed and show respect and reverence. I decided to use that image as my starting point and create an emphasis on the flag by coloring it. This is where my one week project escalated into two weeks. I decided rather than simply color it in with colored pencil, I would embroider the flag and then embroider flowers around the outside. The stitches became my own sign of respect. The memento that I created to remember those who passed in tragedies that rocked our nation. The memento that thanked whose who worked to make our world a better place. A way I could show my respects.
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