No Respect

I saw a wonderful story this morning about a little three-year-old girl with lung problems and the terrific Golden Doodle who is her service dog.  She has a severe lung problem and must have oxygen at all times.  The dog has been trained to carry her tanks for her so that she can play outside and slide down the sliding board, and swing.  She can act like a normal child.  It was a beautiful story.

I love it when there are some positive stories on the news.  So much of what we hear is bickering, fighting and divisive information which sickens us and draws us down.  People are become so negative that it is frightening.  We need to look for the positive news, for the charitable acts and the kindness that is still out there.  We need to focus on the ways we are alike instead of the ways we are different. We are all being manipulated by the media.

I became a nurse in 1973 and have taken care of many people of all races, all stations in life and all nationalities.  All of them felt pain, all of them had red blood, all of them had skin and bones and feelings and people who loved them.  In other words in most ways they were all alike.  We are all more alike than different.  We all need love and food and shelter and believe it or not, each other.

My heart aches for the way we have become divided in this Country.  What we fail to realize, is that if we will look outside ourselves at the countries in the world with the most serious problems, it is their divisions that have caused and are causing their downfall. We really don't want to head down that same road, do we?

I am surprised at the way people are failing to teach children to respect authority.  People in this country are not teaching children to respect their parents, their teachers or anyone in authority.  Regardless of your political stance and beliefs, our President for example, was elected by the majority of voters in this Country.  He is the Chief of Staff, the President and the main authority figure in this country right now.  We have allowed the politicians and media to influence us so strongly and the rhetoric has become so vitriolic it is frightening.  If you don't care for the policies of the current President, fine, just don't vote for him next time.  But to say in front of your children that he should be "executed" or that he is an "idiot" is encouraging them to have a lack of respect for authority.

We see examples time after time of the increasing problems with discipline in schools, of the increase in crime in our communities.  A lot of this is caused by the complete lack of respect for the law and authority in general.  I hope it is not to late to see a change.  I pray that somehow before it is too late, we will become a country of citizens joined together to improve the Country instead of a Country of individuals each seeking to fulfill only his or her own agenda.  We must go back to the founding of this Country and the principles upon which it was founded.  We must teach our children to show respect for authority. 

I am not saying that you have to agree with everything a person in authority is saying or doing, but to respect their right to do so, and go about changing things in an orderly and respectful manner.  We are seeing an increase in the chaos in our Country because of a lack of respect for others.  It is a sad and sorry problem which we must work to change, and it must begin in our own homes.