Don't take someone else's things without asking.
Listen to the teacher when she is speaking.
Respect other people's feelings.
Generally, I always felt like these class rules could be summed up in one word.
Respect.
So we teach it to primary school children, and this is a good thing. But something seems to happen to people when they grow up and too many seem to resent respect, or maybe just forget how that is supposed to be lived out in everyday life.
Two incidents this week have shone a bright and exposing light on the lost art of respect in our society. One is appalling, the other more appalling and tragic.
On Wednesday evening this week, one of our Federal members of Parliament was enjoying a meal in a local pub when he was heckled by some - what shall I call them - drinkers. Senator Sam Dastyari is a public figure, and as such he probably expects people to come and speak with him before being invited to do so. But what he received was verbal abuse. I don't think we need to tip around the edges here, he was treated in an appalling manner by men who had clearly determined that there are some people in the community who do not deserve to be respected.
The fact that these men (must be a better word than this) filmed the exchange, and then made it public, seems to amplify their own lack of respect for the senator, for themselves, and for others in the pub who had to listen to this appalling ranting.Is respect a lost art? It certainly seems to be for some who have a very narrow view on what it is to be a patriot.
The second incident is far more tragic, because it didn't involve any discussion, but I suggest it began with a simple lack of respect.
On Wednesday afternoon, a man was riding home from work on his motorbike. Nothing unusual in that. I do it myself some days. But as he was riding down a street in the leafy suburb of Mitcham, a four wheel drive did not slow down at a give way sign, hit him and dragged him and the bike under the car for over 60 metres. The bike caught fire and this man was terribly burned. He died the next day. The driver of the car didn't stop to help. It was a stolen car and the people in it drove off quickly. It has been reported that they later broke into a home in another suburb so they could steal another car.
Go back to those primary school rules. "Don't take someone else's things without asking." Here is a situation when some young men (why is it always men?) chose to abandon respect, stole a car, killed a man, and drove off.
Do you teach children? Teach them to respect others. Use your words to teach them. And teach them by the way you live.
