R-E-S-P-E-C-T

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I am very late writing for the blog tonight, I have had a very discombobulated day.

I want to talk about respect. Respect of life, person and self. I have examples to share, all encountered today.

·         Roger and I live in a very rural setting, and are responsible for taking our own trash to the dump. I call it the Finney Mall. The little unincorporated settlement that is the location of the transfer station for the county landfill that is closest to us is known as Finney. Roger is a scavenger, often bringing home perfectly good items other people have tossed out, hence the ‘Mall.’ He went there today. Sometimes I will go with him, I am really glad I did not do so today. There was a tragedy awaiting him. He found a dead female Beagle that had recently given birth. We do not know who she belonged to, the cause of her death or the fate of her litter. We know she died, and was discarded as garbage, on the ground by the dumpster. It has been cold here, and we had snow earlier in the week. She had been there long enough to have frozen to the ground. He had to pry her body loose. He had an extra trash bag with him, and there was some clothing someone had thrown away lying by the dumpster as well. He wrapped her in cloth, placed her in the trash bag, and buried her in the weeds by the parking area. He placed several large rocks on top, to keep scavengers away. Roger was able to show respect to this animal. Respect for a life that the person who discarded a pet as so much garbage was sorely lacking. It took him maybe 30 minutes to perform this act of mercy. I cried when he came home and told me.

·         I have a dear friend I shall call Madison. I spoke with her on the telephone this morning. She was previously married and in a polyamorous relationship with her spouse and another woman. The second woman and her ex are still living together, and have recently become engaged. She found out about the engagement via a post on a social networking site. These two people are not her enemies. She had one of the easiest and conflict free divorces I have ever seen. She has continued to try to help them financially since she moved out. They did not show her the respect I feel she was owed under the circumstances.

·         An acquaintance and the gentleman with whom she lives had planned to have a Twelfth Night party as a wrap-up to the holiday season tomorrow night. Late this afternoon the party was abruptly cancelled because his ex-wife, who lives a three hour drive from them, had let it be known she was going to show up (and I suspect show her ass). As an aside, I am disappointed because it was to be a costume party and I was going to go as Athena the Moon Goddess. I was even going to have a white owl to carry, though not a live one. The ex-wife does not appear to respect herself.

Respect, common courtesy, decency - call it what you will. There are adages we all know – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. What goes around comes around. As you have done to the least of these so you have done to me. They may sound trite and old-fashioned in the 21^st century but the concepts behind the phrases and quotes have a lot to teach us. If we cannot respect the life of an animal, the people we accept help from or ourselves how can we possibly expect to ever live in that better world people around the globe cry out for?