I called some guy a c-nt on this forum at least once. I’m not sure I feel too bad about it, but I am trying to find a better way.
It used to be understood that life was full of travail and personal anguish, and that alone demanded a certain amount of respect, just for being alive, even for a-holes. Respect was not something you “had to earn,” like they say today. Respect for other people was a discipline you cultivated for your own sake, without regard to somebody else’s perceived status or righteousness, and with the understanding that you can’t know what other people have been through, and are not fit to judge them…You simply tip your hat and open the door for the old-lady, regardless of if you think she’s a b-tch or not, because having respect is about you, and your personal character, not them.
Having said that, I don’t believe respect is just about being polite either. It’s also about acknowledging the strength of potential danger. Go flip off random people on the street and see what happens. Eventually, you’ll come across that guy whose had a rough spell and is done taking people’s schit, and you just pushed him too far. You could find your name in the papers that way.
Also; bears. Respect bears. Always respect bears.
This is what it means when they say “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom,” I think. It also underlines the importance of being well armed. In this way, we can also have respect for our adversaries, by acknowledging the potential threat, not provoking hazards, and being properly prepared for them. Good manners is a survival instinct, or it should be.
I could be wrong, but I don’t think people were always as full of schit as they are today, and it’s hard for me to have patience for it, or feel sorry for the general public, it’s burdens, or the calamity they face…supposing they even realize how fckd-up things actually are. So, I get it. The struggle is real. Sometimes it takes real balls to heft the weight of it, I think, so good for you 'Fang.
…and that’s my sermon on “polite society.”
