1 Corinthians 13:11 (KJV)  When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

When my children were young they often misbehaved and were sometimes sources of embarrassment for myself and my wife. When tiny as babies they disrupted Church Services and public places, crying and fussing, often without apparent reason. Like good parents should do, if we could not comfort the noisy child, we got up out of our seat and took them out of the room. This is good manners. If your child will not behave, take him or her out.

If your child will not behave, take the child out of the room.
If your child will not behave, take the child out of the room.
If your child will not behave, take the child out of the room.

Do not sit there and allow the child to disrupt the Church, the Play, or the Restaurant. Quietly remove the child until order is restored, both in the child and in the room.

As my children grew from babyhood to toddler they learned to sit still and maintain a decent posture around other adults. They learned because I and my wife taught them to do so. My children learned something that many in America never have been taught – RESPECT. Respect for others, respect for God, respect for Law and Order. If my children showed disrespect in public they were quietly removed from the public and paddled in private. They learned to behave.

People who were not parented, but raised disrespectfully &
to disrespect others are everywhere today.

People who do not respect cannot be good citizens, but are perpetual unruly children who contribute nothing but noise and confusion to the world. They become “useless people who just get in the way” as Comedian Bill Burr once said. They disrespect others by texting and driving, causing others loss of time and in many cases loss of life. They disrespect others in the marketplaces of America.

I stood in long lines at two different stores yesterday suffering because of perpetual disrespectful children. At one store – a Hobby Lobby – there were three long lines because two of the cashiers were moving as slow as they could possibly move. One cashier sped up seeing the crowd, trying to get the customers through in a timely manner. The other two just yawned, and s-l-o-w-l-y took as long as possible to scan and bag customer items. I gave up on my cashier and moved to the faster aisle. But sadly, I stood behind another child in an adult body. After checking out rather than get out of the way so the line could move this forty-something year old little girl took her time. She slowly returned things to her purse, adjusted her clothing, combed her hair, and finally put her bags in her shopping cart. It took her about a minute to move. I left Hobby Lobby and went to Lowe’s. There I got in a line attended by a cashier who obviously had just discovered a long lost friend. Rather than do her job they had a family reunion while I watched, waiting to be waited on. Disrespect.

Disrespect and the fruit of bad parenting is everywhere. This morning I awoke and, as is my custom, read the news on my internet feed. It seems that Mike Pence – a good and honorable man – went with his family to attend a musical called “Hamilton”. The headlines read,

Pence Booed At Hamilton

When I saw the headlines I thought “How odd that Mr. Pence didn’t like the play”. But I misunderstood the headline. It seems that a bunch of poorly parented children in adult bodies saw a man who – of all the candidates – behaved honorably and with respect throughout the recent Presidential election. These childish adults thought it was right and honorable to disrupt a play so they could disturb and rob a man of his money and his dignity because they didn’t get their way. Mike paid to be at that play and had a right to see it undisturbed. Let me ask you this:

What if Mike were a black man going to a play and the audience booed him
for being a black man in a room full of whites? Would that be all right?

Absolutely not! Every person deserves respect. Every person should be treated with civility. Every person is made in the image of God. Every person, regardless of color, culture,  or even lifestyle, should be treated with basic human decency. We all bleed red!

Poor parenting has ripped the infrastructure of our nation in two. Adults who should be adults are acting as children because they were not disciplined when they were children. Children must be taught both right and wrong. Parents must enforce this teaching with disciplinary measures. You cannot job this out to the schools and the Church. Get up. Love your children. Care for your children. Teach your children respect NOW so that when they become adults they put away childish things.

Sadly, it is too late for  many of these riotous, booing, bedding, tantrum throwing children in adult bodies. Hopefully we will not raise another generation of these miscreants. But that depends on you, momma, and on you daddy. Be parents! For God’s sake and ours, BE PARENTS.