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Covid Means Respect by Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., CLC, SDS
Life C ach
Covid Means Respect
By Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., LMFT, CLC, SDS
Surprise! Yes, I’m going to surprise you!
Believe it or not, there is a time to be Covid positive. In fact, it could be good much of the time.
It’s something my dad pointed out…. But, first you have to hear how he pronounces Covid and then you need to be familiar with the Hebrew or the Yiddish language.
The word Covid in Hebrew, pronounced by my parents’ generation with that Yiddish twist, means respect.
Now, are you catching on? Don’t we always want to be “respect positive”?!
In fact, in this new “cancel you” culture, is it possible that we have become a little too “covid negative”? Driven by a lack of respect – and that doesn’t seem like a good thing.
We may not agree with each other’s opinions but does that mean I should now erase you. How disrespectful is that?
Maybe it scares us when someone doesn’t think like us. Yet, who says we have to all think alike?
Should I criticize you if I want pizza, and you think a piece of steak is the better choice for tonight?
Should I stop talking to you if you like warm weather vacations and I like cold ones?
Can’t I respect your right to have a different opinion? Where has that outlook gone?
Being of different mindsets is not an endpoint. It’s actually a starting point, especially if we remember that exactly the same way. Who said we were?!
Right at the start of Creation, man and woman were disagreeing over whether to eat the apple or not. They didn’t split up because they didn’t agree with each other. They worked it out. They didn’t cancel each other
variety is the spice of life. And that’s where working things out actuality begins.
We might need to take turns, or each give in a bit, or see whose need is more pressing at the time, or realize we may need to give up some things to get others.
We may even have to realize that everything doesn’t have to go our way as much as we’d like it to! Because, after all, everyone has needs and desires.
We are not all meant to see things out. They went on to build a whole world together!
The ability to hear the other person’s side is an actually a starting point. Then it’s smart to identify and recognize the feeling that they are feeling. Even if that particular circumstance would not spark that feeling in you, recognize that it did in them. You may still see things differently, yet, you can connect to the emotion they are experiencing. They may feel fear, or frustration or disappointment or a million other emotions. You may think, well, those circumstances don’t bring out those emotions in me. They don’t have to! Yet, can you see that those emotions can be frightening and or draining or difficult or exhilarating for another person?
We have different histories and different priories at times. What feels right for you may not feel right for me. But we still have a right to exist.
Once we see each other’s feelings or emotions. Then reality is the next place to go – and maybe we just won’t agree? So this is the point to resort to collaboration, because that’s the “Covid positive” way to work things out. It may not feel easy. But it certainly feels like a healthy twist on having Covid. To have respect/“covid” for our fellow human feels like a positive way to move forward!
Rivki Rosenwald is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist working with both couples and individuals and is a certi-
fied relationship counselor. Rivki is a co-founder and creator of an effective
Parent Management of Adolescent Years
Program. She can be contacted at 917705-2004 or at rivkirosenwald@gmail. com.
