A close relative of mine inspired this letter. We had a disrespectful exchange which highlighted for me the importance of renewing our loving concern and actions for and with each other.
During my life with them, I watched my parents, who were not perfect, struggle to treat everyone respectfully. They were and are my primary models for how to do this. I learned that respect requires that I not lose sight of the humanity that binds us all together.
When I worked and volunteered with citizens in prisons, I learned that respect and disrespect were a source of their personal worth, safety, health, peacefulness and hopes. In that confined environment, if someone felt disrespected, he would feel it like a physical blow.
I am feeling a bit trapped as we and our neighbors are experiencing a disrespectful stripping away of many of our fundamental rights and opportunities. We must respectfully demand and fight to keep and regain those rights and opportunities for ourselves and for others. We do not need to behave with insensitivity as practiced by our leaders who arrogate power to themselves without concern for the others’ welfare. We are obliged to call out the disrespect we see and call for respect.
We can speak up and expect the best. I believe that respectful dialogue will offer us the possibilities of just and peaceful resolutions.
George Munger
Amherst