re·spect: v. - To avoid violation of or interference with.

When I see people like former CIA chief, Stansfield Turner, lashing out at the current Administration (link) on foreign soil, it makes me furious. Besides the obvious results this can have on our troops and our already soiled reputation, it makes no earthly common sense to me that after September 11^th, any red-blooded American would be opposed to the protection of this great nation.

When I was a child, my parents instilled in me a healthy fear of things that could hurt me. While many of today’s psychologists would label my parents’ unconventional ways of teaching these lessons as “abuse”, one thing is certain – I grew to respect, without hating, the things that could hurt me.

For instance, when we lived near a busy road, my parents allowed us to see the gruesome remains of an animal that had been run over by a car and told us, “If you go into the road, this will happen to you and you will never see mommy or daddy again”. In fact, many of the admonishments were followed by, “….and you’ll never see mommy and daddy again”. Did they scare us into submission? I guess so, but I’m positive I didn’t carry any emotional scars into adulthood.

I’m a firm believer that common sense is both a natural and a learned trait. Some things are instinctive, at least for most of us, and some things have to be embedded through life lessons. When you meet a person who presents with no apparent common sense, you’ll most likely find they have parents who have little or no common sense. There are a few exceptions, of course. Some people are just flakes by their very nature.

I also had a healthy fear of my parents themselves. They never had to brutalize me for me to believe that they might if I did not tow the line. Threats like, “I’ll knock you into next week” made me think twice before I did something foolish. My parents didn’t physically abuse me by the standards of that era. Today my mother might get arrested for giving me a “whooping” with a wooden spoon, regardless of whether I had it coming. At that time, however, I wasn’t being disciplined in any way that set me apart from the other children of the 70’s. I have no emotional scars or life long hang-ups as a result of the healthy fears my parents instilled in me. I believe, beyond a doubt, that some fears are necessary to keep us safe and to create order.

Imagine the ocean and all it’s grandeur. Every time I visit the ocean I feel like I’ve had a spiritual cleansing. There is nothing in my life that can take the place of what the ocean does for my mind and my spirit. I absolutely adore the ocean, as do my children. However, without a respect (a healthy fear) for the command of the tide, a person could find his/herself at the mercy of a fierce torrent that could take their life. Most people would not disagree that a healthy fear of the strength of the ocean’s waters is necessary if you want to be safe.

A few years back while chaperoning a school dance, I found myself breaking up a small scuffle between two teenaged boys. When one of them got a little mouthy, I made the statement, “don’t push your luck with me, pal”. I will never forget the boy’s response. He looked me square in the eyes and said, “Why? You can’t do ANYTHING to me. If you do, you’ll be arrested. The school can’t do anything and neither can you!” And he was right. I couldn’t do anything to the boy. The school couldn’t do anything to the boy.

We’ve coddled our youth and called it freedom. We’ve masked bad behavior and called it freedom of expression. We’ve ignored a lack of human decency and called it tolerance. We’ve cast out morality and accepted immoral behavior as the norm. We’ve given up our own right to protect ourselves in the name of protecting others’ “rights”. We’ve branded servitude as a bad thing and embraced “if it feels good, do it” as an ideal. We’ve done all of these things in the name of freedom and as a result, not only do our own up and coming generations have no respect for authority or a healthy sense of fear that keeps them in check, but our enemies abroad have learned that there is a rising up within this nation that will ultimately tie the hands of this government from protecting our own people.

There are a number of reasons why I have a real problem with those who have gone on a campaign to show the rest of the world that we will embrace any and all behavior and we will call it the American way.

First, there will never…and let’s be honest with ourselves….N.E.V.E.R. be world peace. We may be at peace with some, but we will never be at peace with the entire world.

Second, implying that the way to peace is to leave people alone and let them live as they choose, is like saying the way to help a drug addict is to let them continue to use – OR – imagine being mugged by a man with a gun…if you said, “Hey buddy! No need to point the gun at me – I’ll give you anything you want! Here’s my wallet, would you like to go to the bank? Because I could withdraw some extra cash for you! How about taking my wife! She’s a great cook!”…how long do you think it would take before he was back to mug you again?

Now, take those same COMMON SENSE principals as they relate to dealing with terrorists. Do you think tolerating a violent, blood-thirsty religious group whose primary objective is to cleanse the world of American filth (you and I) is going to bring peace to the world? Is a healthy fear of the greatest nation on earth such a bad thing if it keeps us safe and restores order?

For the record, putting underwear on a terrorist’s head is not torture. I’ve seen worse pranks pulled off by high school boys after a football game. And as for their Koran…I’ll worry about what happens to it when Muslims start caring about my Bible. Meanwhile, what will deter a terrorist who has no healthy fear that, if captured, the enemy may “torture” him/her until they get the information they need to protect their country? There isn’t much that deters them as it is, but at the very least, if we get our hands on them, tying our hands to prevent hurt feelings only puts our nation at more risk. It’s like the boy at the high school dance. “You can’t do anything to me!”

Dennis Miller (who used to disgust me before he left the dark side) said it well when he said, “Just as necessary as compassion for the weak, is measured respect for the strong.” I’m not talking about being the “Big Bad West”, but suggesting we don’t have the right to command a measure of respect that is in keeping with our right to protect ourselves is just foolish.

I’ve said it in previous posts and I’ll say it again – the day is coming when this nation will once again be brought to her knees and this time, those to blame will not be responsible because they fell asleep at the wheel. They’ll be responsible because they left the door to the henhouse open and sprinkled a trail of Scooby snacks from the outside – in.

God bless this beautiful nation.

Trackbacks and related posts: A.M. Siriano