Respect

(To read this post on my blog, please click here)

Without delving too much in to the this-generation-is-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket mentality, people in general have a lack of respect, but highly demand it for themselves.  Recently on the news two young men threw bricks through a McDonald's window because of insufficient onions on their cheeseburgers, and a man drove his car through the front of a Taco Bell because he lacked the ninety-cent taco with his order.  The shift of the customer-is-always-right line of thought has gone from a customer service way handling things to the customer actually believing that they are infallible and are all deserving.  I have to take a step back and look at the irony of people being jerks to employees of an establishment, then complaining when they are mistreated at their own workplace.
          Now, I will admit that this post is highly influence by personal experience at my own workplace, but I think that it is an across the board thing.  I get tired of the hypocrisy of people who have no respect for rules, property, employees and other patrons, but are incredulous when they are not shown respect.  I work at a small water-park just outside of Springfield, Ohio and as a lifeguard and a head lifeguard I have experience many of these individuals.  Individuals who, after paying $5 as an admission fee believe themselves to be above the rules and get angry when they are enforced.  One would think that the disrespect is mostly limited to immature children, but it exists in its most vehement form in adults.
          Two things which I find distasteful are the absolute misconstruing of ideologies that are in themselves good.  The first is the disgusting way people throw around the phrases, "it's a free country", and "I have a right to…".  If your view of rights and freedom are the excuse to be disrespectful, annoying and destructive, then you are a disgrace to everyone who has given their life so that you can live your life and are a stain on the American name.
           Secondly, is the issue of race.  I am aware of how edgy this subject is, but I feel it needs addressed.  Please mind that the people I speak of in this section are a very specific group of people who I have personally encountered and are not a general assessment of any broad group.  At my place of employment we have a reoccurring group of african-american individuals, who fit in the category of the people I have described throughout this post (again mind you I can bring to mind plenty individuals of my own skin colour that fuel the creating of this post), but the problem is they make it, intentionally or by habit I know not, an issue of their skin colour rather than their actions and attitude.  I have actually had it said, supposedly in jest, but in most jokes of the kind there is a hint of truth, when I enforced a rule, that "it's because we're black", and the attitudes, at least in my observation, are of the same.  What I don't like about this is that they don't realize that when Martin Luther King said, "I have a dream", was that he immediately followed it with, "that one day my four children will be judged on the quality of their character, rather than the colour of their skin".  As a personal observation, I get the feeling that as a caucasian male I can't easily participate in discussions of this kind without the fear of being seen as racist, which is not my intention at all, but when I can't be a judge of your character because of your skin colour, then it is you who have become racist. 
         Again I want to emphasize that I know and respect many people of all ethnicities and skin colours, but it doesn't matter what your skin colour is if your character is rotten to the core.  There is still the truth of the golden rule, treat others as you would want to be treated.  If you do not respect, you do not deserve to be respected.  This is not so much of a complaint, as I have before said complaint does little to help, but rather an admonition to those who read this post to respect before they demand respect, to love before they demand love and to treat others as you wish to be treated.  Next time you interact with an employee that makes a mistake, whether in his or her power or not, think of all the times you have made mistakes or when things beyond your control have gone wrong, empathize before you criticize.

Mythical Beasts!  We share a kommon  konnection in this kommunity, I encourage and love to discuss anything and all that I write.  This is the place where we can work together to change things that are in our power, we are already bound to each other with a code of respect, let's expand that beyond here.