In today's busy, always on-the-go, in-a-hurry society, we tend to only think about ourselves. We've forgotten what our parents taught us about manners and what we should value in our lives. We have forgotten what it is like to respect someone, even someone you have never seen before. Respect comes in all shapes and sizes. Not just respecting people but respecting something that simply isn't yours, not to mention respecting yourself. Most of these are issues for a different day. Today, I simply want to focus on the lack of respect we, as a whole, show for others. To truly understand how deep this neglect of respect goes, I'll give you a little example.

While in Walmart over the weekend, my boyfriend and I were waiting in a long busy line at the deli. While eagerly awaiting our buffalo chicken wings, we were being patient and kind to the obviously swamped deli workers. We were being friendly to the other people ahead of us in line. Simple things everyone should do in the grocery store. After about five minutes of waiting, it was almost our turn to be waited on when a lady, roughly 10 years older than me, and her two young kids walk up and stand beside us. When the deli worker came over to us to take my order, the lady jumped up in line, gave her order, and walked away with her meal and a smirk on her face.

Now I am fully aware of how petty it is to be mad about a lady jumping line. The point of the story is that she showed her two young children it is OK not to wait your turn. The lady's kids are going to grow up believing that disrespecting other people is OK because they've seen mommy do it before. That it is OK to disrespect the other busy people around you because you "matter more" than a stranger. That it is OK to get what you want whenever you want it. And that is definitely not OK with me.

Now imagine this on a wide spread scale. Everyone jumping line. Everyone disrespecting others because they have too much going on in their own lives to care. Everyone assuming that because they simply exist, they deserve more than a stranger does. If we are showing our kids, future generations, that they don't need to be respectful now, why should we expect them to be respectful in the future? I might just be a young college kid. I might not have experienced everything that the lady has experienced. I don't have to go grocery shopping with two kids so I must not know the "hassles of being a mother."

While I don't know all these things, I do know one thing: I know what respect is. I know how to respect someone I don't know. I showed more respect for the lady by not telling her off for her inappropriate behavior than she showed me by jumping line. I showed her kids that when someone makes you visibly angry, it is best to keep your bad words to yourself. I showed her kids that it is not OK to be disrespectful to someone, even when they are disrespectful to you. While this one incident might not shape their lives, it definitely has an effect psychologically. They probably won't remember this down the line, but by the time they are old enough to make decisions on their own, I can almost guarantee this will help shape their view of the world.

So parents, friends, family, anyone reading this, please take my advice. Don't be the lady jumping line in the grocery store. Don't be the bully on the school bus. Don't be "that guy" in the office. I promise you that being a nice person comes so much more naturally than being it does being a jerk. If we were all a little nicer to each other and respected one another more, I whole heartedly believe this world would be a better place, even if it's just by a little bit.