Pondering A Little R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Yea!  Brenda's Pondering with a Purpose site is "live" for me again.  That means I can participate this week. If you've never joined in on Pondering, hop on over to Brenda's to check out all the rules (there aren't that many, I promise) and see the links for everyone else who's pondering this week.  Basically, all you need to know is that each week Brenda gives us a subject prompt and we all write about it.  It's pretty interesting seeing how differently we all interpret the same thing.

This week's prompt:  Respect

Now there's a loaded word.  Turn on any episode of Jerry Springer, Maury Povich, or others of that ilk and you will most likely see a whole lot of large women stuffed into spandex that doesn't quite cover anything a group of people, all screaming into each other's faces and demanding respect.

See, that's the thinking I don't quite understand these days.  The younger generations that are coming up now, in general (I know there are exceptions), are like those hoochie mamas on the talk shows....they demand respect and can get quite nasty about it if they think they're being disrespected.  They don't need to do anything to earn that respect...it's owed to them simply because they exist.

The flip-side of the coin is that they don't want to give respect to anyone else.  You want respect from them, you have to earn it (or buy it) and they have some pretty weird standards for what garners respect.  Treating people justly, living beyond reproach, accomplishing goals....yeah, none of that means much.  Ride a grocery cart down the side of The Great Pyramid wearing a diaper and ski mask....instant respect! 

They also don't respect themselves and I wonder how they expect me to respect them when they can't even do it?

I guess I'm an old fuddy-duddy.  I was raised to respect my elders...for no other reason than they were my elders.  I would never have dreamed of talking to my parents the way kids talk to their parents today.  I would never have dreamed of doing the things under their roof that kids today do in their parents' house.  I knew if I did I'd be in BIG trouble (that just might be what's missing today).  Basically, the golden rule, well, ruled.  Today it's definitely more a case of do-unto-others-before-they-do-it-to-you.

I'd like to hope it's going to get better, but as a Christian who believes what the Bible teaches.....the reality is that it is just going to get worse.  Check out 2 Timothy, 3:1-5 for a discription of what people will be like as we face the end times.  It ain't pretty....and it's already happening.