I made it back home, it was so very nice to sleep in my own bed, get up at my own time, and look in the fridge for breakfast…well I will skip the breakfast part. I just want to sit and be a hermit for a day or so. I am one of those people who gets their batteries charged from being alone for some time each day, week, et-cetera, so a day or two alone is definitely what I have in mind for today. Even being fruit and lunch challenged, I really do not want to leave the house today.

One thing I enjoyed on the trip up to Minnesota and the ride back down is how people interact with each other, and how they show each other respect. Respect for other people has been twisted and mutilated in America over the years, imo. Respect is not some form of less than behavior or second class thinking. Showing respect for someone else is simply an acknowledgment that the person in front of you is worthy just like you. That is all there is to respect, or at least that is the basic idea of respect.

Respect has been twisted into an ugly violent, aggressive behavior in inner cities by people who think respect is commanded. These people live in a culture where respect is earned by violence, aggression, and brute force. That is not respect, it is only an acknowledgment that at that moment one person is physically superior to another. It sure is not any form of respect the average person wants or needs for themselves, or it should not be.

For those that remember the seventies there was a take off on the twenty-third psalm. It went something like this…”yeh, though I walk through the valley of death, I shall fear no evil because I am the baddest person in the whole valley.” If you were around in those days, you know there were a lot of similar versions of the same saying.

For me, in those days it did not mean that I was the toughest, strongest, or most violent person I knew, it meant that in some area, I was better at something than anyone else around me. There is always a whole pie to be sliced up in our daily world, and to compete in an arena that does not help the world be a better place is wrong on many levels.

In some areas that I drove through respect was commanded through fear and violence. It was not a pleasant environment to be in, but it is what ignorant violent people choose to manage their lives by. Too bad, because I am sure there is a lot of exceptional people and talent is being wasted on things that mean little or nothing to most of the country, let alone the world.

In other places, I saw people giving and receiving genuine respect from those around them, and it was pleasant to be in those areas where this for of behavior was prevalent. One does not reduce themselves by showing a form respect for another. The earth is really a small place, and as much as we sometimes think we are isolated from most people, how we interact with those around us does ripple out into and effect the whole world.

People show respect on different platforms, in the farming areas where it may be a person’s knowledge of farming practices, markets, or animal husbandry. In other areas, it was respect given for the wholesomeness of spirit and the willingness to really try and make a difference. In other communities, respect was shown for another’s business ability. At no time in these communities did I observe people being looked down upon, or thought to be less than the other person(s) around them. Everyone was appreciated for who and what they were, because deep down they know at some level everyone is important to make the world go ‘round.