Rodney Dangerfield gets a lot of laughs when he claims that he gets no respect. Sometimes there’s some truth in jokes and that’s a reason why people laugh because they see the irony in what the comedian says or they perceive themselves in actuality in that which is being humored.

    I’m seeing an awful lot of lack of respect these days. It seems to be everywhere in everyday occurrences. It’s reflected in words, actions, and attitudes not only in children for their parents, but among peers, siblings, and older people for younger.

    Several days ago, I turned on the radio to catch a bit of morning news. I missed the news, but radio hosts were discussing some things a certain baseball player said about New Yorkers. Frankly, I don’t know the whole story so I am not justifying what the baseball player said. It was interesting, however, to listen to the radio hosts. They were calling the baseball player a jerk (literal words) for his name-calling. Two people called into the station and pointed out that the radio hosts were doing the same thing as the baseball player did. That is, they, also, were “lowering” themselves into name-calling.

    The response of the hosts was: “But _____ was calling a whole group of people ______.” The rationalization was that because a whole group of people had been called names, they were justified in calling the baseball player names.

    Dah!!! Excuse me!!! Isn’t it always easier to see the mistakes of others, but so often we don’t recognize the same thing in ourselves?

    Lack of respect is everywhere! Much of the meanness shown to others is a simple lack of respect for the other person. From abortions to the simple deliberate hurting of another’s feelings, it all boils down to a lack of respect - a lack of ordinary charity and love.

    One area of great concern to me (abortion being foremost) is in Church after Mass on Sundays. As soon as the priest leaves the altar, people are talking so loudly, as though the Church were a simple hall and not God’s House. They seem not to realize that, if they have just received Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist, He is still with them. The Lord stays for about 20 minutes. People are totally unaware of this and completely disregard the fact that some people may wish to remain in Church a few minutes to pray quietly. Total disregard and non-care on the part of these persons is a real sign of great disrespect - first for God (because the Church is His Palace) and then for those who wish for prayerful quiet.

    Respect is a simple courtesy we can afford other people. It is another way of living: “Do to others as you would want them to do to you.”

    It’s the GOLDEN RULE! Plain and simple. Simple acts of courtesy are acts of charity. Charity is our ticket to Heaven. As we treat others, so we pave our road into eternity.

    We don’t have to be wealthy or smart or clever to get to Heaven, but we do need to offer everyone common ordinary respect. We must take stock of this in our own lives.

    God bless you!

Sister Mary Lucy Astuto

July 14-16, 2000
volume 11, no. 121
Sr. Lucy's GETTING TO THE HEART OF THE MATTER column

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