During this season of holidays, I’d like to suggest a character experiment. How many children can you catch showing respect to older people?
Previous generations talked frequently about respect for elders, but our modern society, hating to impose any kind of boundaries on young people, does little talking or teaching along these lines. Perhaps it is another in a long line of character traits that are ignored because they may create “weak” children. Even the youngest are loath to show respect for people who are older than they. This was brought vividly to my attention by a three-year old girl riding her little, pink tricycle in an Arizona community. A gray-haired woman was checking her mail, and as I watched the little girl fly toward the mailboxes, I heard her yell at the senior citizen, “Get out of the way, old woman!” Obviously, this tiny child had not been taught to show respect to elders. The only one in her life who held any importance was the child herself.
Good character demands respect for elders. This is not optional. If you are going to teach children good character, you will teach this strong character trait. It is not something that children should exercise only if the elders are in their family – not is it something that only young children should exercise. Excellence in moral values requires that all of us, no matter our age, show respect for those who are older than we are. For children in the 2 to 8 age group, this important point is made clearly in the enchanting little book, Georgey Giraffe’s Giant Respect.
Good character demands respect for elders, and that is where our experiment enters the picture. You would think that, as a time of gift-giving approaches, children would be as good as they could be, right? They would want to be good so that Santa, or whatever figure they celebrate, would bring them a tower of gifts.
Our experiment is to watch the children around you during the next three weeks, and see how many children you can catch exercising respect toward people older than they. In how many different ways are they exercising respect? If you have children in your home – and that includes everyone but parents and older relatives – watch them during the next 21 days. If you are a teacher, watch the children in your school – right up through tertiary levels. When you go shopping, watch children in the stores, malls, parking lots, and restaurants. If you go to a holiday concert or movie or other entertainment, observe the children to see if they exercise respect toward elders. In public parks, restrooms – wherever you are during this season of varied holidays, watch every age children. And then, watch those who are not children, and see if they exercise respect toward those who are older.
Remember, this is the time of year, above all others, when children and adults try to be as good as they can be. This is the time of year when respect for elders should be shining from every corner. Is it shining from your corner?
Good character demands respect for elders.
That’s the view from my chair. What’s your view?