Just My Thoughts, Saturday October 14, 2006


Hey folks,

That's right, that old school, dying character trait, respect. Respect for one’s elders. Respect for Women. Respect for authority. Respect for Position, Respect for others in general. Why is this wrong?

I remember not to long ago, we would look to those that are older than us, for wisdom. We respected them for their age and experience. I remember when I was a kid, I was always taught to help out my elderly neighbors. Got to the store for them and get milk, or whatever they needed. Take the trash bins out to the street, then back again when emptied. That type of thing.

Now noone teaches these things to our kids. Now we have more and more elderly being dumped into assisted living facilities, or nursing homes, like yesterdays papers piled in a corner.

Respect for women is all but gone. Long gone is the whole, "Watch your language, there’s a lady present." Or something as simple as offering your seat, holding the door, asking if she needs help carrying something. I do place a lot of the blame for this on the whole Women’s Lib movement. They always say the are equal to men. They are. They always want to be treated the same as a man. They are. But then you remove the whole manners thing.

Respect for authority and position? Two words for ya, President Bush. Plain and simple. There is NO respect for people in power or position. I was always taught that even if you do not like someone personally, you still respect the position. In other words, I do not like Joe Smith, who is a cop. However, I must respect his position as a cop. Your boss is a good example. Or say you do not like Bush as a person. {I cannot imagine anyone not liking Bush} Yet he IS the President of the greatest country in the world. If you live here, he is YOUR President. You need to respect the position, or the office of The President.

Then you have respect for others in general. This is most definitely gone. Oh we say we respect everyone, but then we fail to act this way. I was driving downtown in a not so nice area. An older Black man came off the curb and yelled at me "You better slow that thing down Cracker. Damn Honky." Cracker? Honky? If there was not about twenty other guys there with him, I most likely would have stopped and let him know that we have entered the twenty first century. Call me an A Hole, or Jack Ass, or at least get creative.

Then you have the Haitian Maintenance worker at the Gardens Mall that I told you about. The one who yelled at me because I turned toward the bathroom. He could have simply said, "The Bathroom is closed for clean right now, please use the one in Sax, or Macy’s." But NO. He had to yell at me.

I seem to remember a wise man once said, "Judge a man by the content of his character, not by the color of his skin." How quickly we forget.

How respectful are you? An honest question. Tell me, what was the name of the girl that checked you out yesterday while you were shopping? What is the name of the Housekeeper in your office. How was HER day? What is the name or your mail person? Who is it you see everyday during your routine? You know, those invisible folks.

I make it a point, one hundred percent true, to always ask whomever it is that is in front of me, be it at a mini-mart, shopping center, office, even the toll collectors on the Turnpike, "How’s your day going?" Then I actually stop everything I’m doing and wait for the answer. Try this sometime. It can actually be funny. They do not expect this. This throws them completely off. Sometimes they stop what they are doing and stare at you like a deer in headlights. {An old NY reference. I haven’t seen a deer since coming to Florida 6 years ago.}

When they answer you, make eye contact and smile. If they are honest and tell you how bad their day is, give them words of encouragement. Trust me, this changes the whole situation and may even make that person’s entire day. That is showing them respect. In turn, they will go out of their way to respect YOU. They will even remember you the next time.

I think if we all just started to show a little common courtesy, and respect, the world would be a much better place. I guarantee you, that YOU will even have a good day by doing it. Let’s just start respecting each other, and see where it goes from there.
Peter