Respect Your Parents (Γονεις αιδου)

(DISCLAIMER: I do not claim to be an expert on anything. I'm merely giving my opinions and interpretations as I see them as being applicable. We are not an absolutist faith, nor do I personally regard the Maxims as "infallible"  hence why I see the need to update things to a modern equivalency)

Maxim:  Γονεις αιδου or "Respect your Parents"

Modern Interpretation: Respect your Parents

Truth be told, this maxim is one of the more difficult ones for me. My dad has not been a role model, he is a substance abuser, let my sister drop out of high school, he was emotionally and verbally abusive (physically too on occasion) growing up, was terrible with finances. . .the list goes on. I sit there and ask myself "how can I respect a man like that?" So I had to ask myself, can I actually respect and put this maxim into play in my life?

I eventually decided that I could.

Respect means not just holding someone in high-esteem, but it can also mean holding them in special regard. Even if my dad is a person that I can't respect by the common definition, I can respect him by giving him a special status. He and my mother brought me into this world, so both are held in special esteem and they both get specially honored at times (though, my mother more often as the dead get honored more frequently). I, however, have very little filial piety when it comes to my father. I consider his requests, but I do not defer to him, I am independent of him (one of the advantages of being dirt poor. You achieve independence quicker.) and I am the head of the family, he and I've discussed this, it is understood. This complex dynamic is yet another reason that this maxim is more difficult to apply to my life, but, it has been possible.

Hopefully he will shape up into the man who makes this sort of thing easy.

Since I feel like I aired out some dirty laundry, here is a picture of some dirty laundry.