Adults & Leaders

When my children were young, my husband and I like most parents tried to instill basic values in our children.  These included honesty, kindness, a good work ethic and respect for others.  In our house part of respect for others included being polite even when you disagree.

Like in most households with children, those lessons didn't always run like a well oiled clock.  We had our fair share of tantrums, stomping off, door slamming and other challenges.  However, I'm proud to say that the children (in spite of my many mistakes) turned into respectful, polite, self-supporting adults.  

As a parent, I believed that part of my job was not only to preach to my children but to be an example and practice what I preached.  Was I a model parent?  Heavens no!  Like most, I made MANY mistakes.  However, I always tried (and continue to do so) to set a good example.  I think the simple act of striving every day to be a better person than the previous day helped my children learn those basic values.  Children will absorb our words and actions.  This continual effort to be a better person helped our family to approach life together as a unified team who continue to always support each other even when we disagree.

Has our country forgotten these lessons?  I firmly believe that most of us grew up with similar expectations and lessons.  But it seems that the values of respect, politeness and kindness to other have been falling by the wayside for some time now. These values were no where to be found during this last election and I haven't seen any improvement since.

Don't we need our country's leaders to be modeling these values?  If a parent only preaches and doesn't set an example, the lessons are lost.  Many children will fill in their values from less desirable sources.  If a leader only says he wants to unify and heal the country and yet openly courts division by partisan actions and inflammatory comments his unity goal is lost.  If our country loses unity, then just like a family, all will suffer.  

This failure to act like adults in non-partisan unity is fuel for our enemies.  We are in danger of becoming a country that others may no longer want to emulate.  The vacuum left when our elected officials fail to lead by example is being filled with politically extreme news sources, hate filled speeches and deafness to differing opinions.   

When families fall into a downward spiral of dysfunction it can sometimes take multiple generations to overcome.  Let's not let that happen to our national family.  It takes strong adults, leading by both talk and practice to pull families back from the brink of disaster.   

If our leaders are failing in their job to be grown ups, it's up to each of us as citizens to lead by example and heal this country.   This isn't a call to stop disagreeing on policies, it's a call for respect for our fellow family members.