[Vision2020] NYTimes: In Search of Dignity

[bear at moscow.com]

Joe,


Thanks for the great OP-ED that you posted and I agree with it 100%!
Now, the question is, how do we get back to it? And I will fess up that I
am just as jaded about it as others. For instance, when the Governor of
Alaska announced that she was resigning, my first two thoughts were,  1)
What has she done that is about to hit the media, and (2) Who is going to
pay for her new clothes now that she is out of office?

For instance, I can remember as a child growing up, and older adult was
ALWAYS addressed as Mr or Mrs (Miss) or if they were a close friend of the
family but no blood relationship, they were Uncle Xyz or Aunt  Xyz.

I remember  when the age of calling police officers "Pigs" was in vogue,
either deservedly or not, and people thought that was bad, but I can
remember when we called them police officers, NOT cops!

But having said all of the above,  I again ask, Why/How did we get where
we are today as far as civility is concerned?  I feel as though it is
because those that should be treated to our respect have failed miserably
to EARN that respect, and have so many times let us down. My first
Sergeant Major in the army explained it to me like this: "Sir, you have
the right to demand and are owed deference, but you have to earn respect".
 I think I did earn his respect, for when I left the battalion I was in,
he presented me with his fathers service pistol. His father was a General
during WW2.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  From The New York Times:
> OP-ED COLUMNIST: In Search of Dignity
> By DAVID BROOKS
> The old dignity code that George Washington once followed has not
> survived modern life. Every week there are new scandals featuring
> people who simply do not know how to act....
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/07/opinion/07brooks.html
>
> Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting
> http://nytimes.com/iphoneinstaller
>
>
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