Disrespect

If there's anything that bothers me about people these days, it's disrespect. I was taught, and I taught my kids,  to respect elders, which meant, among other things, not to talk back no matter how wrong I felt they might be. I was taught to keep quiet if I couldn't say something nice about anyone, including my peers. I was taught to realize that things which belonged to others were not mine to take.  That's all a matter of respect.

These days people don't seem give one iota about any of that.  Kids sass their parents, disobey them without regard of consequences, don't pay attention to teachers or others who are older. They roll their eyes, they walk away, they just don't seem to know the meaning of respect.  It goes beyond that too, as far up as the law enforcement and the government of our country.

It seems that the laws are written for those who will obey them. Criminals don't care about any of them. They do what they do, and I think many of them know full-well that they will get a slap across the knuckles, and they'll be out on the street in no time.  Even people who have taken lives and ruined so many other lives in the process, don't get punishment enough for their law-breaking, in my opinion. 

As for the government of our country, it used to be that people disagreed, and maybe they said so, but they knew that the President was an office to be respected, even if you couldn't respect the decisions or policies of the man in office. He was voted into that position by the people,  and most people recognized that, even if their 'guy' didn't win the election. They'd ride it out until next time.  Now we have uprisings and sit-ins and demonstrations of all kinds, which only seems to feed the fire in others. I haven't got a problem with peaceful demonstrations so that those in authority can 'hear' the voice of the people, but more often than not, these gatherings cause more problems in other areas.

On a much smaller scale, our neighborhood is currently dealing with some issues of vandleism. There have been GPS units stolen, an attempted car theft, scratching of a brand new car and some mailbox bashing. We have decided that we need to organize a neighborhood watch situation, in order to prevent more of this kind of disrespect in our area. Our meeting will be held soon...and hopefully we will be successful in our efforts. It won't stop the disrespect, but at least it may move on to another place. Law breakers will always find somewhere to commit their crimes and show their disregard of authority. I wish it was otherwise, but it isn't....and it galls me.