We all want our children to be good. Some of us remember those immortal words of Dr. Martin L. King:
But how many of us can easily recite a list of ingredients or traits a good character contains?
You might be blessed with wise parents, grandparents, or spiritual leaders who can tell you how to raise the perfect child. If not, there is enough information out there in libraries and on the web that if you’re lucky, you might teach yourself before your children are grown. But why reinvent the wheel when you have enough work on your hands as a parent already? Here are some suggestions, taken from Benjamin Franklin, thought by some to be the wisest American of all time, and Rabbi Israel Salanter, the founder of the Jewish ethical movement, מוסר.
Everybody alive deserves respect for the simple fact of being human. We don't know what trials and tribulations another person has gone through. Even if people are not our friends, they are still human beings. If one refuses to show respect to others until they first demonstrate their respect, then one will never earn anyone's respect. As R. Salanter advised, "Be cautious in the honoring of every person, even anyone whose thinking you consider to be imperfect."
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