When my grandfather died, he was buried in a small country cemetery in rural Ohio. His long funeral procession wended its way down two-lane roads on its path from the church.
That was almost 40 years ago but I can still remember how other motorists pulled over to let us pass. Even today, recalling that show of respect can make me tear up.
The small town where I live, which is much longer than it is wide, hugs the coast of a large bay. The main street that runs east to west is six-lanes plus a center turn lane, certainly wider that most other towns the same size.
The other day while running errands, cars moving in both directions were stopping. Not pulling over for emergency vehicles, but stopping in the middle of the street, across all six lanes.
A funeral procession was moving through town.
You don’t always see that gesture any more. People are in too much of a hurry, or they may not even recognize that a line of cars (most likely with their headlights on) is a funeral procession.
But, that day, for so many other motorists to come to a halt, to pay last respects to someone they didn’t even know, was very poignant.
We need more of that as a nation – respect for our fellow-man… just because it is the right thing to do.
“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” ~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
This week’s word is:
Respect
What to do:
Using “respect” for inspiration, write 100 Words – 100 exactly – no more, no less. You can either use the word – or any form of the word – as one of your 100, or it can be implied. Include a link in your post back here, and add your story to the Mister Linky list. If you don’t have a blog, you can leave your submission in the comment section, or as a Facebook status post. Remember to keep spreading the love with supportive comments for your fellow Wordsters.
Thin spiral notebook 
This nation will find it hard to respect each other as long as Russian trolls are spreading propaganda and fake news to polarize us.
That said.
This post reminded me of how I brought up my daughter. She’s extremely polite. She doesn’t always do what I say, but at least she’s never talked back to me. She’s 10 now. I just hope I can raise my 2 year old son the same way. As a white boy, I want him not to feel entitled or superior. I want him to respect everyone as a default, and then change his opinion based on their actions. But I want him to always treat people well, no matter his opinion of them. That’s what I do, and what my daughter does, and I hope it’s what he does too.
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I don’t remember a time when we were such a divisive nation. We’ve always had a ‘them-against-us” mentality but this now is beyond scary.
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