I was in the car listening to a christian radio station , and they were talking about respect and the lack there of. It got me to thinking about growing up in New Orleans in the 50's and everything was " yes mam, no mam, please , thank you, may I? well you get the picture. We didn't dare call an adult by their first name. Then in 1960 we moved to Ohio and I actually got laughed at if I said "yes mam." So not wanting to be laughed at I went with the flow.( except at home!) The first thing a child should learn is respect for parents, then it follows to teachers, police, others in general. Somewhere along the line ,grown-ups decided they didn't want to feel old so they wanted to be called by their first name. Parents decided they wanted to be their kids friends instead of parents. and little by little respect just went down the drain. Use to be that when an elderly person came into a room or on a bus, a younger person would stand up and let them have their seat. Men opened the car door for a lady, Oh yeah and there was no cussing in front of a lady. Now the girls cuss as bad as the guys if not worse. I guess to make them look all grown-up and bad. Who knows. Nothing like walking down the street and have some kid bump into you and instead of saying "excuse me" they cuss you out instead.

Our society got to a place where both parents were worked and no one was home for the kids. That was the day of the " latchkey kids". Then as time went on some parents were too wasted or drunk to raise the kids. so that left outside influence like gangs. Don't get me wrong we still have some great kids out there. But it's the minority now.

If you don't respect yourself then you won't respect anyone else. Your parents, teachers, country. GOD. Arithea Franklin sang about it back in the 60's and. Where has it gone. who will teach the next generation?????