Rudeness and Respect

Just thinking about a few things.

I talked with one of my players the other evening, helping him with a bit of homework. We talked about various things, particularly about attitudes. He mentioned a particular person and what he said to him, saying "You know, Coach has worked hard to get where he's at. You should respect what he does for us and the help that he gives." I had a difficult time keeping a steady voice the remainder of our conversation. Needless to say, I'm proud to see how much this young man has grown in the five-plus years I've known him.

That conversation made me remember a time when I lacked a great amount of respect to people beyond my scope of concern. I was about ten years old and visiting a friend's house across town . We were in his room and his "most annoying" sister came in and bugged us. Me, actually. It wasn't that she was doing anything wrong or truly annoying. It was simply a boys/no girls thing and I (yes, me) did not want her in the room. I was blatanly rude to her. What strikes me most about this whole incident was that her brother, my playmate, jumped my ass fierce about being rude to her. He poignantly pointed out, "She's my sister; you need to be nice to her or you have to leave." I'm sure his words weren't quite that eloquent, but no cussing or harsh tones. Just a straight forward demand for mutual respect. I remember that lesson quite well and it serves me in good stead.

Kim, sorry for being an ass to you then. I know I'm just beyond that line of not unlikeable now, but I never really got to apologize.

Cheers to you and your big brother.