I Get No Respect!

"I get no respect" is a one liner that the comic Rodney Dangerfield always delivered in his stand up act. Many people today can feel that same lack of respect in our everyday lives when we don't agree with popular opinion.

---To be one, to be united is a great thing. But to respect the right to be different is maybe even greater. Bono---

I recently read The Handmaid's Tale, and as usual, I read several commits about the book on Goodreads before reading, and was shocked by one comment in particular.

---I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me...All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.
Jackie Robinson---

The writer believes that Hobby Lobby and the Tea Party are mirror images of the Taliban, and writes in a way that if everyone doesn't believe her then they are wrong. She also believes that Hobby Lobby will not let their employees receive any type of birth control through their insurance. She believes that birth control pills are not offered either, which isn't true.
I commented and put a list of the fifteen birth control items the employees have to choose from(everything that doesn't induce abortion).
Immediately, she wrote me and told me she blocked me from writing in her comments, and told me she was right and I was a Troll, which amused me beyond measure, since I've never been called a troll before.

---Everyone should be respected as an  individual, but no one idolized. Albert Einstein---

She believes in so many ideas that are expressed full of hate, rudeness, and the inability to see the other person's side. The sad part is that she received hundreds of people who stated they agreed with every word she said.
I love Goodreads, and since I read a great deal, I go there almost everyday. I believe that the site has many intelligent people, so I'm surprised that so many would associate themselves with someone who has no respect for people who don't agree with them 100%.

---A person's a person, no matter how small. Dr. Seuss---

Does she have a right to believe the way she does and to write about it? Yes, but the way she does so is indicative of the total lack of respect that many Americans give each other in today's society.
If someone believes differently than ourselves and tells their views without hatred, judging, bitterness and disdain, then I believe we owe to ourselves to listen. It doesn't mean that we need to believe the other viewpoints, but we shouldn't just shut them out.

---It takes no compromising to give people their rights. It takes no money to respect the individual. It takes no survey to remove repressions. Harvey Milk---

Everyone has a belief in today's top issues--abortion, welfare, gay marriage and the list goes on and on, but a good debate team listens to the other side with respect, and tells their views with respect. Doesn't everyone deserve the respect of being heard and not judged? Of course, as long as no one is hurt. 

---Love thy neighbor as thyself. Jesus---

So to end this blog, I would like to add that we should all just stop judging others, but that is a blog for another day.

---Here are the values that I stand for: honesty, equality, kindness, compassion, treating people the way you want to be treated and helping those in need. To me, these are traditional values. Ellen DeGeneres---