“Men are respectable only as they respect.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Dear, sweet, little 8-pound, 6-ounce baby Jesus, please let this election be over.
Ricky Bobby inspiration aside, if I get one more robo-call from my candidate (whom I already voted for a month ago, via absentee ballot), I may try to get my ballot back and write in Mr. Ricky Bobby his-own-self!
One need only look at my donation history (public record), my social media commentary (sparse though it may be on matters political) and my yard signs to know who I’m supporting a week from Tuesday. So, quit calling my danged house at dinner time, would ya!?
I understand the times, and I understand the stakes.
What I don’t understand is the complete lack of respectful discourse — and not just in this election. Read David McCullough’s biography of John Adams, and you’ll learn that a) you can lift and read a 5-pound book (thank you, Kindle App!) and b) that Adams, Franklin and Jefferson didn’t care much for each other. They cared a great deal about the United States, though, which led them to debate each other respectfully. It led them to productive discourse that, one might argue, “brought forth upon this continent a great nation…”
It’s not only elections. Respectful debate is hard to come by at work. It’s AWOL at church. It makes me worry that respectful discourse is dead, or at best, on life support.
It seems that no one wants to lead with ideas, because it’s too easy to just call the other party an idiot. Even if the other party is, in fact, an idiot, it’s beneath respectful men to point it out at the expense of ideas.
Ideas make a difference. Ideas are the currency of difference makers. Discourse leads to ideas, to compromise and to coming together.
Let’s break out the defibrillator and give a life-saving jolt to respectful discourse. THAT’LL make a difference…
(And yes, the irony of this particular Talladega Nights clip in a post about respect did occur to me…)
Leave a Reply