The word “respect” stems from the Latin, “to look back,” or “to look again.” The verb means, according to my crumbling Merriam Webster’s Third New International, “to consider worthy of esteem” or, as a noun, “an act of noticing with attention, the giving of particular attention to: consideration.” Here in my part of the northeastern United States, the natives often think it is an easy matter to know how to show respect for someone.
But is it always so? I think not. Some of us, for example, believe that you are not really listening to me if you are not making eye contact. Others, people from non-North-American cultures, regard eye contact as a mark of disrespect. As I walk down the street, some people show respect by acknowledging me with a nod. Still others, also acquaintances, avert their eyes, asking me to honor them by not trying to making the connection.
There are several aspects to respect, it seems.