I think we can all remember the comidian, Rodney Dangerfield. He made a career in comity centered around this phrase. He presented in a commical way true to life situations about disrespect.
I believe the subject of respect is well worth exploring its value in our everyday life. It can determine the value system of ourselves, our children, employers, friends and everybody around us.
My wife Laverne and I were in In Prague and Veanna few years ago traveling with a group of Christians. There was something that stood out to me vividly as we traveled in city and countryside alike. There was absolutely no trash on the roadside or streets. I immediately invisioned the streets, roadways on our country where there is so much litter that volunteers are recruited to walk these roadways cleaning up the trash. They would pick it up, place it in plastic bags to be picked up by refuge haulers. The roadways were riddled with hundreds of bags. Thank God for the volunteers that gave of there time and effort making our roadways presentable. It makes driving down those roadways a pleasant experience once again just to find that just a few weeks later are riddled with trash.
If you are like me when I see trash everywhere it says a lot about the neighborhood. One that I would not be proud to be a part of. We also see trash on the streets of our cities and towns and people just throwing it on the street when just a few feet away there is a trash can, or some will go by just stepping over it rather that stooping over and putting it in the trash. “WHY” To answer that I will need to go back to my story with our tour guide.
I am a curious person, so I asked the tour guide about the litter laws. She didn’t know what I was talking about. So I tried again stating that there must be some pretty stiff fines for littering. Do they have a large fine, put you in jail.
She still didn’t know what I meant. Finally after the third try it dawned on her what I was asking. She said do you mean throwing trash along the roads and streets? I responded with a resounding, yes.
Her answer shocked me. She said, we don’t have any litter laws. That really got my attention. I then asked her, how do you keep people from throwing trash. Then came the second shock. She simply stated, we teach our children from a very young age to respect their country. “That was It”. Teaching children respect.
What a simple answer to such a complex problem.
Then the vision of our own countryside came into mind once again. How disrespectful we have become as a nation and individually. We live in the richest nation in the world, the greatest the world has ever seen yet all we hear are complaints of how bad we have it. I have noticed for years a decline in the attitudes of our young. They have an attitude of gloom and doom of the future.
I realized how we as parents have failed our younger generation of presenting them with a future of hope and prosperity. We failed to implant in them a bright future.
“WHY”
In Proverbs 22:6- Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. That is coming from someone that should know, God Himself.
We have been given so much and we show our appreciation by trashing it. “What a terrible testimony”
When I see what is taught our younger generation in our schools and homes then I understand why there is so much disrespect for what they have. Disrespect for parents, home,teachers and employers as well as leaders and country as well as our country itself. What I see is that Respect is not on the teaching agenda, yet it is what is most needed to stop our deterioration as a nation.
We need to learn to appreciate what we already have and stop complaining about what we don’t have. Only then can we show respect to others.
God has given us the earth and everything in it around it and everybody in it. We have been given so much yet appreciate it so little.
So, how do we give, gain or regain respect?
Let me answer that with a story. We were visiting a home one day where the owners had a little girl. This little girl had several toys scattered over the house floor. Along came another visitor who also had a girl about the same age. The other girl picked one of the toys to play along and it was ripped out of her hand by the first little girl with the statement, these are my toys and you can’t play with it.
The parent just watched in silence.
What a perfect opportunity of teaching this child that was expressing selfishness a valuable lesson in sharing. By sharing with another lets two people enjoy the toy. You get double enjoyment. Also the toy carries twice the value it had. The more you share the more enjoyment many more people can get out of just one toy. When sharing is multiplied in your life you multiply the blessing of others and your own is multiplied. If you want to see a child that is taught disrespect, just look at the floor after they play. Do they leave their toys lay around without parental insistence in picking them up and putting them away. Look at their room. Do they leave their clothes laying on the floor and drawers partially opening and looking like a pig sti.
Yet by the parents not teaching sharing they were teaching selfishness. The seeds of selfishness which breeds disrespect. These seeds are sown by the parents and the seed grows in the child’s life and as years go on they become even more selfish. The result is more disrespect. When they get older and not given what they want by parents, teachers, employers they rebel. They have been taught to live a life of entitlement which is now becoming the destruction of our nation. If it is not given they feel they have a right to take it.
The only reason that parents do not teach their children to appreciate what they have, share with others and respect is because the parent themselves are disrespectful. A disrespectful person just lets their child to decide for themselves right or wrong. This leads to a very bleak future, because it is when they are young that they need to be taught. What they are taught when they are a child is what they act out as adults. These parents will be visiting their children in prison some day as ask themselves, where did I go wrong. They are wandering why their children are showing them disrespect,even hatred.
Excuse me for the expression “DAH”, what have you taught them?
If a parent has respect they will teach their chuldren respect and therefore give a positive outlook for the future.
This is long but I hope helpful
I encourage you to appreciate everything you have been given already. Treat it with respect and express appreciation. Those that cannot appreciate what they already have will never appreciate getting what they want. That is the basis of respect.
God Bless
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