Dear Connie:

You are welcome. I hope you do become proactive in professional and personal settings.

“I guess I just wanted to show my respect by not coming off too aggressive or nosy?”-

It is respectful to show interest in what another person thinks and feels, what he/she values, what motivate him or her, etc. It is disrespectful to not ask questions in a friendship or a relationship. When you ask no questions, you communicate to the person that his thoughts and feelings don’t matter to you, that he is therefore not an important person.

There are ways to ask questions that are not respectful, but don’t ask questions in those ways (ex., in a loud tone of voice, an accusing tone of voice, or wording the question in such a way that there is an accusation in the question), make the questions simple and honest and that will be respectful.

And there are questions that shouldn’t be asked, of course, too private and it is disrespectful to ask those questions, for example, it is disrespectful to ask a person about his bathroom habits.

Otherwise, do ask.

anita