I watch or read the news and see a lot of insincere apologies. When did we stop caring about people and more about press and image? In my opinion, lack of respect for every individual is the cornerstone of so many tragedies.

Blood, pain, realistic scenes are not going away from our media sources. They are integrated in the television shows , movies, and music that we see everyday. Shock value had a place in our society so we have to learn to accept it. What we don’t have to accept is the lack of teaching in spite of the shock value system. We just have to learn to teach WITH it.

Change happens, teaching values & morals seems to have stopped.

We can still teach alongside change. It has happened for years. Think for a minute about electricity. Prior to electricity, parents taught their children to respect flames / fire. Children were taught, at the appropriate age, how to light a candle, an oil lamp wick, or even a fire in the fireplace, when light in a room was needed. Once electricity came along, the everyday need for teaching and using fire went away. FIRE didn’t go away, just the need for it everyday. Now our ancestors could have said….I don’t know about this electricity thing; It’s EVERYWHERE….let’s stop teaching our children respect of fire. It’s not needed anymore. Thankfully, they did not do that! They continued to teach children respect for fire and how to use it properly so when fire was needed (electricity goes out) they latched on to their knowledge of fire and used it without burning the house down.

I believe we need to see more examples of accountability to stop this dangerous slide of tragic endings.

I believe there are ways to help stop this downward spiral by holding people truly accountable, not just fiscally. For example: When an automaker knowingly allows the continued manufacturing of a faulty piece and it results in long term damage or fatality….they no longer get to stand up on a podium, say they are sorry, pay a fine to the government and the victim(s), and move on. Fiscal punishment does nothing to them. They still collect their salaries. They still collect their bonuses.

Here is my proposal. The minute a company is found guilty of negligence and it is determined that they had knowledge of it’s defect and kept manufacturing, then all parties involved are given a mandatory two year salary increase freeze and they are not allowed to collect any bonus. Those bonus dollars are garnished and given to the victims or their families. A “sorry” on the podium isn’t enough. They have to go and meet with each victim (or their surviving immediate family members) one on one, face to face and apologize. Each party found guilty of the knowledge has to do it individually, not as a group. If they are a manufacturing plant, they have to stop production for two weeks, yet every employee gets paid their average weekly rate during the shutdown AND they are not allowed to raise their wholesale rates for one year. Those guilty need to feel the loss, not the associates who did anything wrong.

Apologies have to mean something. This starts at a young age and goes through adult hood. Just the words, “I’m sorry” have lost their true meaning for so many. Much of this is due to lack of respect. If children don’t respect their parents, they will never respect others as they grow up. Without respect, there is no care if another person is injured or even killed. This has to stop.

Think about your life. Do YOU respect everyone around you? You don’t have to like them to respect them. Are you teaching any minors around you to respect others or do you laugh when they disrespect someone or even encourage it? Every time you do, you add to the future problems.

Accountability for ones actions, responsibility for self and others, and respect of all living things will help to change this society we live in. What can you do to help?