R-E-S-P-E-C-T

My 10th grade French teacher never called on us by our first names. Her logic was, "since you respect me by calling me Ms. _____, why should I not give that respect back to my students?" She never ONCE broke her reasoning, and so throughout the whole semester everyone was referred to by their last names. Of course, we were not required to call our classmates Mr. or Ms. and use their last names, however it seemed wrong to refer to our friends by their first names while the teacher herself was giving them some respect in that regards. So, we started calling or referring to each other the same exact way our grade 10 French teacher did. It was the first time I actually knew the full names of everyone in my class because of this practice. I guess you can say that she lead by example, which in my opinion is the correct and true way to teach developing individuals (or anyone for that matter) valuable life lessons.

When someone of authority, be it a teacher, a parent, an adult, or even law enforcement, puts in the effort to treat you with respect, or just treating you like a person with thoughts and feelings, it truly changes your attitude towards them. Like the saying goes "what you give is what you get". Luckily for me, I had the coolest last name in the class; Sleek. Everywhere I went in that school, someone was yelling out my name "SLEEK!" whenever I passed by. I'm not gonna lie, I enjoyed it.

I can't speak for the whole class, but it was truly the first time I ever felt respected. As a fifteen-year-old at that time, I was always told that I was to young to understand certain things. However, what the majority of us fail to understand as adults is that these lessons can and should be taught at an early age, otherwise when will you start? We aren't going to suddenly start respecting our classmates, our neighbors, our teachers, etc. just because we are expected to or even told to. It is all about how these important lessons are delivered. One should behave the way they expect others to behave, and be conscious of the way they behave in front of a younger audience because whether they like it or not, they WILL pick up on it.

From the time my grade 10 French teacher referred to me that way, I saw myself in a different light. I am a human, a person, a being. I roam the earth with the same hopes and dreams as everyone else. Before expecting respect from everyone else, I should respect myself first. Why should I allow others to disrespect me even though I wouldn't do the same? It all starts with you. That's why I decided to name my site Ms. Sleek. Other than being cute on its own, I'm trying to put "respek" on my name, and everyone else should too. It doesn't have to be formal, it can be whatever you want it to be. As long as you feel respected, go for it!

Here's to the start of something good! #respect #myname #respek #whatyougiveiswhatyouget #goodvibes #afreshstart #respectyourself #rolemodel #goodinfluence #highschool #french #class