October 27, 2014
1:26 p.m.

There have been days of late when I wished I could travel back in time and make wiser choices. For example, on September 26, 2014, I would have elected to play a bowling game instead of dancing!

Those who follow my blog know that I chose dancing that day and injured myself. It's been a month now, and I am still using crutches to get around. I haven't improved much at using them, sad to say. My arthritic hands hate me, and I don't blame them. After all, I was the one who got us into this situation!

I finally had an MRI done on Friday and now I am waiting by the phone hoping the doctor will call and tell me that nothing is wrong, so suck it up and quit being a baby. Ha ha! Seriously, I am so tired of not being able to just get up and do whatever I want to do. It's frustrating.

Okay, enough about my foot, I'm tired of my foot. I'm tired of all medical stuff today. So is everyone else, I'm sure.
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Today I would like to address something that has been on my mind for awhile, and that is the lack of respect that people show each other. I know this has been going on for decades, but it seems to me that as time goes by it just gets worse and worse.

I'm not talking about strangers on the street or co-workers and classmates, who are bad enough in and of themselves. I'm talking about people who are supposedly friends. I'm talking about spouses, children and parents.

I see this all the time, even within my own circle, and it makes me so sad.

So look, people--here's what I know:

1. Children learn not by what they are told, but by what they are shown. Therefore--

    a.  If a husband treats his wife with disrespect in front of his children, he is teaching them that it is acceptable for them to disrespect their mother.

   b.  If a wife treats her husband with disrespect in front of her children, she is teaching them that it is acceptable for them to disrespect their father.

   c.  If grown children treat their parents with disrespect in front of their children, they are teaching their children that it will be acceptable for them to disrespect their parents (you) when they are grown.

2.  People fight. I know that people do not always agree with one another. (I'm not Pollyanna, no matter what they say.) People will argue, it's inevitable. But--

   a.  Arguments are not public domain. Respect each other enough to take it to another room, where your children will not have to bear witness to their parents' lapses in self control.

   b.  Your child's opinions do not matter. Don't ask them to take sides. Don't involve them in any way. It's not their disagreement, it's yours, so keep it to yourselves.  

   c.  Children deserve your respect, too. Subjecting them to displays of disrespect will breed disrespect in them.

3.  The Internet is no place to have an argument!

   a.  If you want to be a clown, join the circus. If you believe your personal matters should be someone else's entertainment, you probably should be painting your face.

   b.  There are hundreds of people out there in the cyber world who will rejoice in your pain, who will add their (useless) opinions, and who will do their best to instigate even more damage than you can do on your own. And once it's out there for all the world to see, you can never take it back. Delete it? Big deal. There will be more than plenty of people out there to remind you of it repeatedly.

4.  You reap what you sow. If you want to be respected, show respect to those around you. If you don't, the disrespect you'll be shown will be precisely what you deserve.

I'm not talking about going online and expressing an opinion--although God knows I've taken some shots for expressing mine, and I expect to take some shots for this post as well--I'm talking about posting things like "My wife is such a so-and-so", or "What's-his-name will be sorry for", etc. Comments like these just invite people to join in with the bashing. Some will agree with you, some won't, and the fight is on.

Don't we get enough of this crap on television? Shows like "Jerry Springer" and "Cheaters" exist because we all want to get in on the bashing, I guess. Personally, I'd rather take the "Ice Water Challenge" every day for a year than watch cow dung like this, and that's how I feel about bearing witness to others' disagreements in general. It makes me profoundly uncomfortable. It makes me unbearably sad. It also makes me want to turn someone over my knees and give them a good, sound spanking, because--GROW UP, PEOPLE!

Several weeks ago--when I could still walk on my own--we went to a buffet for dinner. There I was witness to quite the spectacle: a little boy, about nine years old, ordering his mother around. When she told him he needed to ask for things nicely, he told her to shut up and do as she was told. Meanwhile, his father was sitting next to his own mother, and loudly berating her for one thing and then another until she was nearly in tears. A few minutes later, the little boy went off on his mother again, telling her she was too stupid to load his plate right. The father jumped in and demanded to know how in hell he got the idea he could talk to his mother like that. The little boy lifted his chin and said, "Why not? You do!"

Case closed.

But-- do you think this father learned a lesson? Or did he employ the ever popular "Don't do as I do, do as I say" position? (Which certainly doesn't work, now does it?)

(You know, my father used to say that from time to time, but it was always in reference to his dislike of eating his vegetables. We'd try to use it as an excuse to skip our own, and that was his response.

The one time I really raised my voice to my mother, my father stepped in immediately, and when asked how in hell I got the idea I could talk to her like that, I could never have replied as that little boy did! I know now my parents didn't always agree, but they didn't fight in front of us.)

People need to wake up. The day will come when that little boy will be grown, and he'll treat his father the same way his father was treating grandma.

Children learn what they see.

Respect each other, folks!
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Okay, on a happier note, "Horns", starring Daniel Radcliffe, comes out on Halloween, and I would very much like to go see it. It's based on the story by Joe Hill, who is the son of Stephen King. Loved the story, looking forward to the movie.

Trick-or-treaters never come to my house anyway. Might as well see a spooky movie, right?

Seriously, I never get any kids knocking at my door on Halloween! I may have had a total of ten kids over the last ten years! It makes me sad! I love seeing the kids all dressed up, and I always get plenty of candy--which I just end up eating! Hahaha!
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Okay, I have to go do something, even if it's wrong! Have a great one, peeps!