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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Healing The Itchy Hand Rash, The Story

Healing The Itchy Hand
Rash, The Story

For background on this post, please begin at the blog post on November 6, 2011 (Healing The Itchy Hand Rash, Intro).


From My Personal Journal on October 23, 2011

The Story


Healing - sadness - pain!  These three words sum up this day.  I wish I did not have to experience any of this but I know I did.  It is hard to give up that thought.  It is difficult to let go.


While the pain of the memories is not easy, I am able to go in and feel it, experience it, without being totally overwhelmed.  I could not say that two weeks ago because it almost took me under.


Imagine being held down and raped as a kid.  However, imagine boiling water or hot coffee being poured on you if you tried to resist.  Imagine your little arms and hands being pinned down so you couldn't move as he repeatedly raped you.  Sounds horrible right?  For me, I don't have to imagine any of this.  It is all too real in my mind, the events I describe.

Happiness And Abundance

So many times, I see people trying to play the field of one side or the other in life. Many feel that you have to be happy, abundant and worry free to really have life under control. In many circles, there is an expectation that if you are spiritual, than you really need to be worry free and wealthy.

If everyone tomorrow had a million dollars, it could be easy to assume we are all wealthy. After all, a million dollars is a lot of money to most people. However, if everyone had a million dollars, no one would feel wealthy because it would change the economic structure of our world in a drastic way.

In the case of happiness, if everyone had absolutely no worries and were completely happy, how would we know it? If we did not know what it was to be "sad" , how would we see the difference and know that we were happy?

Much goes for grief and death versus birth and life. It is hard to have one without the other. There is a time of creation and a time of destruction. There is a time of busyness and a time of rest. However, if you have one without the other, we would not be able to tell the difference.

I hate the thought that anyone should have to suffer, be poor or go through the heartaches and horrible moments that we do. I've been through plenty in my life and at one time, I lost everything that was anything in my life. However, without going through those times, I would not be where I am today or experiencing the things that I am.

In many ways, abundance and happiness are about embracing poverty and sadness. It is about acceptance in that to have one, there must be some experience of the other side. While we want to think happy thoughts and proclaim that abundance is what you should seek, I think we are missing out on some of the greatest moments of life.

The greatest moments do not come in where we are currently at in our life. Our greatest moments come from how we have endured and what we have learned on our journey. What we have gleaned from life is our abundance and the moments of enjoyment in life, is our happiness.



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Blog Post & Images (c) 6/13/11 Don Shetterly - use by permission only
http://www.donshetterly.com

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