Respect

I see a lot of name calling these days in our society and throughout the world.  I'm quite sure I am not the only one that sees this.  Our news and social media feeds are full of it.  It is political season and so its part of the "political game" anymore which is beyond sad.

Respect is not something that our society seems to know.  What was once considered rude and ill-mannered to say is now just the normal talk of the day.  It used to be said more in private and now to engage readers and get views, it is said as if it is the latest tidbit of the day.

I find it sad and disgusting to be honest.  I grew up in a home where my mom was disrespected.  She worked her butt off and all anyone wanted to do was sit their butts down in front of the TV while she waited on them hand and foot.  She worked a full time job too, but there were far too many lazy ones in our house.

Said the monster in the house...

I saw my mom, a beautiful and caring and compassionate lady, being disrespected and beat and screamed at because of my father's anger and my older brother's childish "all about me" rantings and shenanigans.  It was always something she did wrong to provoke it of course and the begging of forgiveness was always done.  "I'm so sorry - I don't know what got into me - I will never do it again - but you should not upset me when I've had a bad day" said the monster in the house.

I see women being shown no respect and it bothers me to no end.  I am saddened by it.  I am full of rage and anger over it.  Yet, where do I go with my anger and rage and sadness?  Do I scream like everyone else?

If I scream, no one is listening anyway.  So, I turn to writing the words that I do in hopes that it will change someone.  It isn't the other person that needs to change, it is each one of us individually.  If we are not part of the solution, we are just as much a part of the problem that we abhor!

Everyone deserves our respect...

Women, children, people different from us and people we can't stand to be around deserve our respect.  We need to respect others, even if we've been taught not to respect others.  Our parents taught us what they know, but that does not mean we need to stay stagnated in our life and repeat their beliefs and teachings.  It is time for each one of us to do some serious soul searching and clean out our own closets.

Respect comes from what you allow to take up residency in your own heart.  It is an outward manifestation of what is inside of you.  You either respect people and show love or you spout the latest lines of hatred found on social media and the news.

Respect is something we all deserve and if we deserve it, then we need to give it out to others.  If we fail to respect others, than we have failed to respect ourselves.  Let us lift the world up by showing what we can be in this society, not just how low we can go with one another.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

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