Page - 42 - in Tina and Amir & Ella - English

5 10 15 20 25 30 42 When we arrived home I went to my room to do my home- work. Suddenly the conversation about “respect” came into my mind. In class someone had said: “You must treat older people with respect and that means treating them politely and doing what they say.” And Valentin interrupted and said: “So you mean criticizing and not doing what they say is not respectful?” “Sometimes my parents ask us to make some critical com- ments” I said. “They try to take us seriously. ” “So, can we respect someone and still have different thoughts and ideas?” Isabell asked. “But in school it is sometimes not a good idea to tell a teach- er what you really think, they can hold it against you and think you do not respect her or him.” Sonia argued. “I think we children also have the right to say and do some- thing as long as we have good reasons for it and as long as we do not hurt anyone.” Valentin said. “Yes, this must not be disrespectful, even if we are not always doing what people tell us to do, don’t you think so?” Dina asked. How did this conversation come to my mind? Oh, now I know. It was the conversation between David and Laura that made me think of this. Did she respect him, telling him all the time what to do? Did he respect her, when he somehow replied to her loudly? In school I talked to Isabell. I can talk to Isabell about everything and she will not tell anybody else. We really like each other and even if she is different in some ways than I am and even if she likes to eat or do different things than I do - I like her. I would never tell her what to eat or what to do. I think that means something like respect. When I went to bed this evening all of a sudden it came to my mind that my mother had suggested to invite Fathme and