Respect
My childhood back yard, like many New England homes, housed a maggot-infested cement pit that enclosed a garbage pail in which my family discarded vegetable peels, meat bones and other inedible food by-products. When the garbage truck arrived on Friday morning, my little sister and I held our breath with the anxiety of which only little kids are capable, and we painfully attuned ourselves to the revulsion and horror in our midst.
My memory never fails me when I recall our eyes and noses, glued to the muscular man and to the revolting smell he carried in the reeking bucket carried upon his shoulder. The bucket was supported by his tanned and muscular arm, the smelly liquid leaking from the bottom of the rusted pail, onto his tall and slender body. I remember the silent intensity of his young face, sculpted so handsomely under the sweat dripping from his brow. My sister and I never thought to judge those people who suffered on our behalf, and even in our youth, we knew this man was suffering.
My parents instilled a deep sense of respect in my siblings and me for the toil of men and women like these, whose jobs make our neighborhoods tolerable and our lives livable. Australian Aborigines believe that everyone has his own special talent, and so it has to be that everyone deserves the respect of us all. The human being, whose lot in life is to empty middle class America of its disgusting waste, remains very close to my heart, in my struggle to find answers to a lifetime of questions of unfairness and indignity and disrespect.
So now it shouldn’t matter if one drives an $80,000 Porsche or a car that has seen better days. What matters is the person who emerges from within the leather interior or the torn upholstered seats. It is only with respect for our fellow humans, no matter if their talent is humble or grand, that we truly can love the world, and prepare our children to inhabit this planet as the doers of the deeds that will or will not make the world a better place for everyone. With heartfelt respect for those who clean our cesspools, harvest our fruit, or supply us with our worldly possessions, we will progress toward a society that will one day nurture all children, not just American children, and not only those lucky enough to be born with silver spoons in their mouths.
Respect for those less fortunate than us, less visible than we are in our triumphant worldly successes, will allow us to take into our hearts all the world’s offerings, in return for our dedication to the betterment of this flawed and corrupted planet. We must continue to teach ourselves that respect for nature, for our fellow human beings, and indeed, for ourselves, is the most important good deed. And if we offer these good deeds with heartfelt and consistent regularity, in the end, I believe the goodness of humankind just might prevail.