R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

Recently, I was part of a discussion about “respect”, in this case it was about a picture that was taken of a champion women’s sports team that had been invited to the White House. The picture caused concern for one of the participant’s brothers that saw the picture later and noticed that his sister along with a couple of other team members had worn flip-flops to the White House…his email back to his sister citing his indignation was what had lead to a national news story.

Now the whole issue about flip-flops becoming a national news story is not the issue, so far as I am concerned. The argument about that is centered between changes in culture and different perceptions about what is acceptable and what is not. What concerns me though, is the way the discussion I had had about it with several others that had revealed such a decline in standards of what if anything, deserves “respect.” The argument finally revealed that there are many in society today that see nothing wrong with not paying the Office of The President of The United States any level of respect at all. Because, in their opinion, if they feel the man in the office does not deserve respect, then none is due whatsoever.

I was trying to make the point that regardless of who the person is that occupies the Office of President, it does not diminish the fact that certain levels of decorum and respect are due the office and the invitation to the White House itself. Of course, the discussion degenerated quickly into name calling about the man who is president and my debate opponents pressing the fact that because of the freedom of this land, they had every right to bad mouth the man and the office at the same time, as if they were one and the same.

How sad it is that we have come to this point in our nation’s history. Sad that I should not have to lecture someone on the importance of being able to separate the man from the office. It is the very respect that they should have for the office that is the reason they have the “right” to bad-mouth the man that is president in the first place. If we do not hold anything of value higher than our own wants and desires, and set them apart from ourselves, then we are doomed to go the way of every other civilization that has risen and fallen before this one. We may disagree on the level of personal standards and ideals, but if there are not standards and ideals bigger than us all as individuals we can not, and I say, should not, stand the test of time.

As with all citizens of this country since it’s inception, we bear the responsibility to care for its legacy and hold to the ideals that greater things than our own beliefs are worth lifting up and holding high. The power of individual speech and the ability to hold views opposite of others is only protected so long as there are those greater than ourselves willing to stand up for them.

We have those in society that revel in being able to buck the system and hold views that may be contrary to the nation as a whole. Of course, at the heart of the matter is that contrary views are part of the backbone of our legacy. However, it has become such that views are expressed in such a way that they do not carry any responsibility to the greater idea of being an American first and a detractor of it second. Today’s society tends to glorify those that want to bypass the responsibility of citizenship and go straight to detractor.

Cheapening arguments by not considering and holding American ideals sacred at the basis of the argument is to allow the foundation that enables the arguments to be eroded slowly. My point being is that at some time in the future if the populace discounts and discards those things that have made America what it is it will eventually mean America will have to crumble and fall. Of course the old saying which some may consider trite has perfect meaning here; “If you don’t stand for something…you will fall for anything.” The problem lies in that we confuse the issues of any given argument for the foundations that make the argument possible in the first place. It’s because we are a nation that values the ideals that have brought us to this point in history that makes it possible to be a contrarian to most other public opinion.

Regardless of who serves as President of the United States, the argument against him should stop short of demeaning and degrading the office he holds. If it doesn’t, then eventually the office itself will carry no more importance than as if he were the local dog catcher. And it is the realization that there are many in our society who would say; “So what?” that makes it the saddest thing of all. How blind they are to being part of the problem rather than being part of a solution to societal decay. Since this country’s inception and all throughout its recorded history, men and women have differed and held contrary views, but at the end of the day, they all stood shoulder to shoulder to proclaim a common manifest destiny…that we are Americans and we stand together for a set of basic beliefs.

Disrespect for the institutions of our society causes the foundations of our society to wear and grow thin, eventually making them unable to support arguments of any weight or substance, regardless of positions on the issues. That will only lead to one position, one idea ever being given a voice. How can their be an “arena of ideas” if there is nothing to build the arena on in the first place?

And I do say, showing disrespect towards the Office of President of the United States is unAmerican. We can continue to debate whether wearing flip-flops to the White House is disrespectful. But the measure I would use on that is would you wear flip-flops to your grandmother's funeral and if you say yes, then by all means slip them on on your way to White House.