Abiding is a verb that refers to tolerate, respect or consent to something. Whoever abides by a certain order or requirement, agrees to do what they indicate. For example: “The player could be fired for not obeying the instructions of his coach”, “I do not intend to abide by anything that this man tells me”, “If your boss orders you to do something, you have to abide by it”.
Regarding the etymology of the term abide, we can say that it is constructed with the prefix a-, which indicates “approximation”, and the verb catar, which comes from the Latin verb captare, which can be translated as “capture, grasp”.
The verb opposite to abide is to disrespect, which can be defined as “disrespect or reverence that someone deserves” or “not abide by a law, order or norm.” His participle, contempt, is used as a masculine noun to refer to “a lack of respect for a person who holds a higher office” or “an offense that consists in slandering, insulting, threatening or insulting an authority while exercising its functions”.
The compliance can occur in diverse contexts. Generally, a person agrees to abide by something when the orders or requirements come from an authority or a hierarchical superior.
Suppose that the driver of a car intends to drive on an avenue whose traffic has been interrupted due to an accident. A police officer approaches the motorist and orders him: “Sir, you must go back since, at this time, it is not allowed to circulate on this avenue. ” The driver must abide by such an indication or else risk risking a fine or losing a driving license.
An employee, on the other hand, has to obey his boss’s orders. The owner of a company can ask a worker to dress in a certain way to serve the public: if the individual wants to preserve his job, he must obey the indication.
It is important to keep in mind that, in many cases, compliance is not linked to a formal obligation. If a neighbor begs another to turn down the volume on the television since he cannot sleep, the person can accept the request simply by realizing that his actions are bothering his neighbor.
In a case like this, the values of each person come into play, their will to live in harmony with their neighbors. It is a situation in which it is possible to prove that all is not lost, that we are able to empathize with another person even if we do not have a close relationship with him and, even more importantly, even if there are no interests involved.
When a neighbor asks us to modify our behavior slightly so as not to invade their privacy, two quite definite responses can arise: we can flatly refuse or abide by the request without hesitation. It goes without saying that the first option can lead to bigger problems, even of a legal nature, depending on the case, while the second is the one that allows us to continue living in peace; However, there is a wide range of nuances between the two, which refer to the type of relationship between the two.
While we cannot decide not to obey the order of a police officer or our boss, for example, in principle we have no obligation to turn down the volume on our television simply because a neighbor asks us to. First of all, there are frequent cases of intolerant people who constantly start discussions with their neighbors, regardless of the validity of their motives. On the other hand, there are also landlords who despise tenants, and do their best to annoy them to get them to leave.
