Q: We are looking for that magic word that is going to help our family to get along with each other a little better.
A: The key to success in any relationship is respect.
If those sharing powerful moments of intimacy base their commitments to each other on respect, the incidence of interpersonal abuse would be almost zero.
If everyone in the family based their love and caring for each other on respect, child abuse would disappear, the elderly would be treated better and Sunday suppers would be something to which everyone looked forward.
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If our communities were built around respect for each other, coffee row would be powerful moments of support for all of those families struggling to raise their children while making ends meet.
Gossip would not be destructive. It would be that source of information all of us need to better help our neighbors. If our political institutions were determined to legislate respect, those silly question periods would be shining examples of disagreement without destruction. And if our international relations were built on respect, one nation to another, the cause or need for war would disappear.
Respect eliminates discrimination, ethnocentrisms and social injustice. It is the one word in all our vocabularies that opens the door to the creative and spiritual soul. Respect is also a wonderful way to end the life of this column.
Way back in June 2006, I ran to the Reddimart to pick up the first edition of The Western Producer that printed my column. It was exciting. Seventeen years later and probably between 700 and 800 articles (I never kept count), the journey is coming to an end.
It has been both an interesting and rewarding one for me, but nothing so pleasing as when I have strolled down the streets of our small towns on the Prairies or in the mountains of Western Canada and someone has said to me, “aren’t you the guy who writes for The Western Producer?”
I am proud to be that guy. I would like to sign off knowing that respect for each other is possible and that if we did manage to shift in that direction, we might even find that it is contagious.
Jacklin Andrews is a family counsellor from Saskatchewan. Contact: jandrews@producer.com.
