RESPECT
I remember with fondness some of the
adults in my life when I was a child. One of those adults was the janitor at
our school, a Mr. Southwick. He was always in the building and available in
case he was needed. He was busy cleaning up our messes but had a space in the
basement of the school by the furnace that he fixed up with a rug, a rocking
chair and a lamp where he could sit when things were slow. I know if any of us
ventured down into his private area, he took the time to talk with us. One of
the jobs we could do after school was take the erasers used to clean the
blackboards down into the basement and run a machine that cleaned them. I
always liked to do that job if I could, because that would take me to the
janitors special place and I might have a chance to visit with him. He could be
gruff at times, but his gruffness didn’t bother me. He was a person I
respected, not because my parents told me I had to but because he earned that
respect by treating me fairly.
Dad often had Mexicans
working for him during harvest. I loved to be around those people and listen to
them as they talked. Their language sounded like music to my ears. Very few of
these people could speak English but Mom and Dad worked with these laborers,
and taught us to respect them.
The same with the
sheepherders that Dad hired each summer. Although we were told not to bother
them nor go into the sheep camp at any time, we were able to look at them as
people doing their job and doing it well. These men lived with the sheep in a sheep
camp up in the hills away from other people. They kept Dad’s flock of sheep
where they should be, and kept predators away. The sheepherders would look
scary to a child, because they didn’t bathe often nor wash their clothes. But
they were kind and gentle men. My parents taught, through example, to respect
all of these workers for the work they did
As I got older and
started working at different jobs, I found there were people who were easy to
respect and others that I had to work to do it. I found that often, because of
my early experience with our school janitor, I could easily respect the
janitors in places where I worked. Not everyone felt the same way and often
treated these people as being beneath them. I always enjoyed visiting with
them, and many times helped in some of their work as we talked, because that is
what I had been taught – by example.
We are living in a time
when respect of anyone or their property is not visible. We have had vandals at
our ranch, we have had people drive pickups and four-wheelers through muddy
fields, destroying crops. But the destruction of someone’s reputation or name
because of differences in beliefs and opinions is probably the worst form of
disrespect that we are witnessing. There is no longer respect shown for people
in authority – teachers, police officials, firemen, etc. And there seems to be
no respect for parents from the children. No leniency for someone different. This
lack of respect is exhibited in both adults and children – possibly the
children are learning from the example of the adults they are around.
I am concerned at the
lack of respect the people in the United States show elected officials. I
remember a cousin of mine telling of going to a gathering in Arizona where the
President of the United States was speaking. He was excited to be going. He
admitted that he hadn’t voted for this president, but he said, “He is the
President of the United States and I respect him because of the office the
holds.”
The political scene this
past year has deteriorated to the point that I’m embarrassed at the way the
candidates speak to and about each other as they are campaigning. There
certainly is no respect shown. There seems to be a “no holds barred” attitude
as the candidates speak rudely about each other. The fact that they also attack
each other’s family is hard for me to understand.
We have a problem with
disrespect. We want our children to learn to respect those in authority, but we
feel free to criticize those same people. I’m hoping we can see our way out of
the mess we have created.
