Don't Give Me No Lines and Keep Your Hands to Yourself

Let's face it, the NFL has had a really bad year, and it's only four weeks into the season. It's reputation is worse than in 2012 when the replacement idiots officials caused the controversial Fail Mary situation... and as a Packers fan, that's saying a lot. Seriously though, the stigma of having several players in hot water because of domestic abuse and child abuse is tarnishing the league's image. Domestic abuse and child abuse are deplorable, inexcusable acts, but I don't think it's just those two types of abuse we should focus on; shouldn't we be appalled at all types of abuse against anyone?

Following the Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson announcements, I saw some people (mostly men) posting on Facebook and Twitter such statements as "I would never hit a woman or a child." Why should the abuse stop at women and children? Why couldn't these statements instead say "I would never hit a person." Why is it not OK for a man to hit a woman or a child, but it's OK for a man to hit another man, or a woman to hit another woman? I contend it's not.

People don't like being touched aggressively, it's not that hard to figure out. And really, there's no need for physical altercations except in life-threatening situations, which are incredibly rare. But in American society we see more and more examples of people assaulting each other as if it's the norm, and perhaps even admirable. We see men fight each other for no good reason in bars, women slap each other silly on reality television, and women punching men because they didn't like what the guy said. It ALL needs to stop.

Remember back when we were young and our parents and teachers constantly told us to keep our hands to ourselves? No hitting, punching, slapping, poking, kicking, nothing. I'm not really sure at what age they stop saying that, or at what age we apparently forget it, but maybe we should take that message to heart again. A lot of conflicts and their escalation to violence could be avoided simply by respecting people and their space enough not to touch them aggressively. How about instead of resorting to physical violence we use our brains and employ some good conflict resolution skills?

That respect thing seems like it might be the root cause. Our diminishing respect for each other appears to be more prevalent each day. So many people do not respect their own lives, much less the lives of others. And many have become so self-absorbed/self-obsessed/conceited/whatever that only their own life has value, not the lives of others. Well guess what, people? If you live in modern society, where there are MANY, MANY HUMANS, you must learn to respect and deal with them. It's just that simple. If you can't follow that one rule, feel free to hole up in a cave somewhere free from the pestering of other humans.

Let's end on a high note. Remember that cheesy-fab group Erasure and its song "A Little Respect?" How about taking some of the lyrics in that song and making it our collective human motto? Check it out:

And if I should falter

Would you open your arms out to me

We can make love not war

And live at peace with our hearts

....

Oh baby please, give a little respect to me.

And there you go. I drove home a point AND got that infectious song stuck in your head. Now go forth, show respect, and keep your hands to yourself.