How about a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T or at least a little T-A-C-T ?!!!

Ok, granted, since I decided to vent, I will undoubtedly perform a faux pas of this very nature any minute now… but Come On!!!! First all the folks shouting down the speakers at Town Hall Health Care meetings…. that is not the purpose of free speech!!! Freedom of speech should not mean freedom to BULLY other people and keep them from being heard! I am still a strong believer that your rights must end where mine begin!! Then there are the politicians who are rude, and later apologize…. And then we have our rich and famous who not only lack basic respect for others, but cross legal lines as well — the guy who beat the girl, then apologized on his website; the sports stars whose behavior is nothing to look up to, and then maybe they apologize; now the music industry stars who interrupt and say things that just aren’t ok…. and then news reporters who twitter words that may have been said in a truly human moment that were supposed to be confidential, but tweeted to the world….. well and good if folks apologize, but now it seems to be that people think its OK to do wrong, and apologize….
WELLL NOOOOOO! Its not OK, not any of it — yes, we all have an occassional “human” moment when we make the off-the-cuff remark that we later realize may not have been politically correct, but come on folks, this is getting SO Far out of hand!
And OK, I can yield on the fact that for some people, the concept of basic respect is too much… they think respect implies a one-up, one-downsmanship and they can say they certainly do not admire any of their opponents, but then how about some basic human, adult, mature TACT! There used to be a thing called “tact” and that implied behaving appropriately, particularly where our fellow human beings were concerned. A person that behavaed inappropriately was said to be “tacky” or “tactless” in their doings.
I am sure that my child will need years of therapy because as a parent, I pound (not literally) it into her head to say “yes ma’am” and “yes sir” and to use the good manners I nag her about as often as possible….. and yes, I acknowledge that I must work constantly on my own behavior in order to be a better example for her… but at least I’m trying!
“What the world needs now … is love” may still be true, but obviously, what we need is to be reminded to teach our children and lead by example, at least basic, freely-given respectful behavior! And not to expect to simply be forgiven instantly by apologizing…. a former teacher of mine used to say,”Don’t be sorry, just don’t do it!” and I really believe she had it right with that mantra!
So, if I have offended anyone, I apologize…. 🙂 But I’m certain that even if I offended anyone, they are offended because they too want to be treated with respect…. hmmmm…. 🙂 Stepping down off small bar soap box….