Ask any adult what they think is wrong with kids today and inevitably the answer will boil down to the fact that kids seem to have a serious lack of respect. Not all kids display this character flaw, but a large number of them certainly do. And the ones who demonstrate a lack of respect for people, property and themselves tend to be the most vocal and most visible. Another problem is that lack of respect is contagious. If someone shows disdain for property, others around him gradually lose their sense of respect temporarily. Unfortunately, I don’t think anything can be done to correct this problem with society. We may just have to accept that young people today are going to be disrespectful of just about everything and everyone.

No don’t get me wrong. I am certainly not saying that we give up on children, but if we want to see an improvement in our youth, we are going to have to change the way that adults live. And that is going to be a lot harder than dealing with the younger generation.

Let me demonstrate what I mean with a couple of stories.

A puppy once wandered to a man’s home and his two sons played with it, fed it, and soon became quite attached to it. The pup had three white hairs in its tail. One day, the man and his sons spotted an advertisement in the newspaper about a lost dog. The description of the stray they had taken in matched the description in the advertisement perfectly.

The man later recalled that in the presence of his two sons, he carefully separated the three white hairs and removed them from the dog’s tail. The real owner eventually discovered where his stray puppy had gone and he came to claim him. The little dog showed every sign of recognizing his owner, so the man was ready to take him away. At that point the father of the sons spoke up and asked, "Didn’t you say the puppy would be known by three white hairs in its tail?" The owner, unable to find the identifying feature, was forced to admit that this dog didn’t fully fit the description of his lost dog and he left.

Many years have passed and the father now notes with extreme sadness, "We kept the dog, but I lost my two boys that day. They never again respected me quite the same after that."

Let me now tell you another story.

On the day before bass season opened, Tommy and his father were fishing early in the evening on a Northern Ontario lake. Suddenly, Tommy’s rod almost bent in half and he knew he had hooked something huge. By the time the fight was over and he had reeled in the monster, both Tommy and his father discovered that they were staring at the biggest bass they had ever seen. By now darkness had engulfed the fishermen. Bass season officially opened in less than three hours. Tommy’s father looked at him and said quietly, "You’ll have to put it back, son."

Tommy protested, "I will never catch another fish this size."

As they looked around, there were no other fishermen in sight. They were completely alone, yet Tommy knew that his father’s decision was final and he let the fish back into the water.

To this day, Tommy still recalls that story whenever he is faced with a question of ethics in his own life. The respect he gained for his father that day has never died.

As long as our children see adults themselves acting disrespectful to others, whether it is on television or in real life; as long as they see disrespect for authority by adults; as long as adults show that they do not respect themselves, we can not expect the level of respect in our children to improve. Just look at television. Look at how adults behave at sporting events. Look at how adults behave when they have had a couple of drinks. You better look, because your children are looking. Remember, respect is ‘caught’ not ‘taught’. Watch what you are throwing.