Respect

Our society is going through a drought of respect! It really has been building for a long time, or should I say tearing down for a long time. I thought i saw the beginnings in the 80's when the "reality" talk shows became big. The ones where people got on TV to tell about thier spouses sins and yell at their neighbors. They gloried in enticing children to come on television and complain about their parents; likewise the mentally ill and morally deficient revealed their depravity with pride on Jerry Springer and other similar shows.

The ripples could be seen then, my children picked up from other kids to complain about their teachers. I firmly believe that God puts authority in our lives to teach us, train us and sometimes to chastise us. I told my kids that Ii would weigh their teachers word on any dispute more heavily than theirs, and that I expected my children to put up with the idiosyncrasies of various instructors as lessons in coping with difficult people and obedience.

I have looked on various managers and employers similarly in my own life. If they were unjust, scripture tells me that I must be just and learn my lesson from God.

Today I observed a 5 year old girl strike her mother for refusing to purchase her a stuffed dog, when the mother firmly and without anger of any sort insisted the girl put the dog back and refused to buy the plastic necklace for her that was already on the counter, I took the time to let the mom know that she was doing the right thing(when the girl was not in earshot).

But coming on the heals of a conversation yesterday with a friend on how to counsel her freind whose husband was committing adultery, it concerned me! I think the societal lack of respect may have reached crisis proportions! More and more men and women are casting off all moral restraint to enter into fornication or adultery at the expense of love, family, children, even their own futures! Clothing also reveals a lack of respect, letting underwear show, and body parts that should not see the light of day be flaunted before all!

Commercials, television, movies and music, glory in showing anger and disdain for other human beings. Sexuality is treated only in the most base sense, a way to USE another human being for your own recreation!

Respect needs a 911 call to the Almighty!