Saturday, February 15, 2020

The Growing Disrespect

It was the practice many years ago for a man to stand up when a woman entered the room. This sign of respect is the same respect for women that Christ taught in His Word.

Nowadays men not only do not stand when a woman enters, but they will also even take a seat while a woman is standing without offering her the chair.

Real men recognize the value of a woman and will make sure she is taken care of before they attend to their own needs. It used to be the practice for a man to rise from his seat on the bus to offer it to a woman who was standing.

I have little respect for the men these days because of their deliberate contempt for women. They have taken the opportunity provided by women's lib to excuse their devaluation of women. In earlier days a man would never tell a dirty joke or use a cuss word in the presence of a woman. Now we have women talking and acting like drunken sailors thinking this gainst them respect when in fact it has fostered all the disrespect in the men. Now we have the emergence of anger on the part of young people when you correct their language or disrespect.

Women's lib did nothing to foster respect for women in our culture. They managed to remove all the respect that was already there in favor of being treated just like a man treats another man. What a travesty this has been in demeaning and devaluing women.

Decent men had respect for women, it is very rare in our culture to meet a younger man who understands this concept of elevating women to the status of special importance.

I was in a coffee shop a few years ago waiting for my special coffee. I don't go to these places often because they are expensive. However, on this occasion, I was on my way to somewhere else and was early so I thought I would stop in and sit for a while until it was time to go.

I ordered my coffee and went to sit down to wait for it. While I was sitting in a chair that had been empty I was approached by a man in his thirties who asked me to please get up because he wanted to sit near a friend who was in the same little alcove. I wouldn't have thought anything of it had he left his bag there but even then a respectful man would have quietly picked up his bag and moved it and another chair to sit with his friend.

Just one generation ago a younger man would never have asked an elderly lady to get up and give him a chair without offering her another one. There were no other chairs available nearby so the young man's rudeness left me standing to wait. Since I had no chair to relax in while waiting I didn't stay when my coffee was ready.

This may seem petty to some people who are used to disrespect in this culture but for me, it was disrespect for your elders. I see this kind of attitude often in young people today. They do not listen respectfully, they argue and chastise to be superior.

I gave the foolish young man his chair without a word because in our culture today the young people who are brasen enough to ask an old lady to get out of a chair would have also fought in anger to get it. I had no desire to fight over a chair. Then I prayed for him as I left the coffee shop, that God would somehow teach him manners.

Also, I noticed that there were other men in the room who watched him do this but said nothing to him about it unless it was after I left. No one defended me, helped me or spoke up for me. Welcome to our world today, disrespect abounds and no one has the strength to stand up for what is right.

When no one stands up for righteousness the whole world becomes unrighteous.

Our practice when we were young was to listen to an elderly person patiently without a word even if we disagreed with them. If we chose to speak after hearing, we would do it with respect and never with rage or anger. Now nearly all the younger people respond in anger when we disagree, or when we say they are wrong about something.

Telling someone they are wrong is the new hate speech. Once in a while, I meet a young person who has been well trained in manners and will do the right thing, but they are rare.

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