It is a word I keep discovering again and again.

I found the word on the front page of the New York Times, 9/17/12, "Embassy Attackers Say the Issue Is Respect."

Very popular word it is this respect. Everybody wants it with good reason. Some, like a few in the Muslim world, want it loudly. Some demand it without, they think, loudness. But, most of the time, it is loud enough not to hear it. It is personal, regional, and geo-political. It is even historical.

Why? Why this obsession with respect?

One of the eye-opening realization I had was that everybody wants respect! I discovered respect! Even though I deny vehemently, I realized even I wanted respect. Why and from whom or what I'm not so sure but I realized I wanted it, not only that, later, I realized everybody desired it. Since I wanted it I couldn't deny it of anybody else.

The funny thing is, though, I felt much better when I began to pay respect to everybody I meet, well, honestly, when I tried to pay respect to everybody. It is, again, much easier said than done.

What I find is that I have to break through the thick status quo, as thick as a steel plate, to have true respect for everybody. For a man with my background, it is a tough task without fully realizing it. The only consolation is that it is not just me, it is everywhere, everywhere in the world.

^{▲ 전국총기권리협회(NAGR)의 풍자광고}

There were times when I thought it is my duty to call President Obama, Barak, and Secretary Clinton, Hillary, but, now, I'm willing to call everybody with honorifics. Well jokes aside, the point is it is important to empathize with other people's point of view. You see, they all have their stories.

Life is messy. It is O.K. to have some confusing narratives. And then, I keep finding the word respect again and again.