Worldwatcher – With all due respect, respect can only be given, it cannot be bought, expected or demanded.

I still say it is arrogant and even narcissistic for an individual to expect or to demand it. Age, office, past deeds or creed does not automatically bestow respect on an individual. Being respectful is giving respect and as a consequence one might expect it back in return, but again it is up to the giver to give it.

I think you are getting courtesy confused with respect. It is possible to be courteous to someone you do not respect. I don’t know if you remember the “courtesy is contagious” campaign?

It is possible to respect the deed or the opinion of an individual yet not respect the individual. This however has nothing to do with an individual’s automatic right, demand or expectation of personal respect.

I can respect differences providing those differences do not in any way impact in a negative way on an individual or their rights. I do not respect religion for example; however I do respect the right of an individual to practice a religion providing it does not impact in a negative way on any individual or their rights. I will rile against pedophiles and child marriages and will not respect the practice because it is removed from me and different.

I would like to see the abolition of all pensions and have them replaced by a “universal basic income” in return for meaningful work as detailed in my first post on this thread.

Every working Australian deserves the dignity and respect that work gives.

Hasbeen

You are representative of many of the older generation with whom I've spoken. Strange but true - so many of them, who lived in what today's society would see as abject poverty, recall their childhoods as very happy. As you have said, for them it was nothing unusual, as their neighbours and friends were also financially poor. Why then do you suppose our youth aren't as happy when they have such better? lives.

So many times I hear the same refrain "my life is so boring".

Could it be that with so many parents both working, those parents do not have enough time or energy left to give their kids direction and stimulus?

For me it's a catch 22. On the one hand I firmly believe in women's attempt for equality, yet on the other hand feel children need the comfort of seeing their mother when they get home from school. The first thing myself and my siblings did when we got home from school was call out to Mum that we were home, and hungry. My mother always had fresh baked goodies for us, and her presence was our reassurance that all was well in our world.
She returned to the workforce after the 4 kids left the nest and gained new skills and friends. I never thought to ask her when she was alive if she would have preferred it any other way, and now it's too late

I also believe in progress, and delight in hearing news of new discoveries, but this is tempered by the awareness that in the process of gaining so much, we have also lost much too. Such is life - win a little, lose a little.

Producer

Courtesy, respect -similar, but I don't confuse them. I confess, I must be arrogant, because I do expect reciprocal respect, and usually get it. Sure the other party has a right not to do it, which also doesn't faze me. I live by my rules and don't expect other people to have the same values.

Serial dole bludgers are parasites my tax dollar supports, but I must respect their right to choose that path, although it doesn't make me at all happy, and I certainly do not respect them as people, and begrudge them every one of my hard earned dollar they get, together with the subsidised housing as well.

23,000 in Sydney alone have fessed up that they have rorted a system set up to help the less fortunate members of our society.

Worldwatcher

I remember as a kid I didn’t at the time think my life was that flash. It is only with the passage of time, that we can look back and appreciate it.

I did think to ask my mother and she would have swapped with the old man in an instant.

Have we progressed? The rich get richer, the poor get poorer and there are more of them. The planet is heating yet we continue to burn fossil fuels.

No worries mate, we will be long gone.

We have won a lot, they will lose the lot!

Worldwatcher

The majority of individuals on the dole wants to work but can’t get work and the dignity that come with it. Are they bludgers?

What about the parasites that are employed, that don’t earn although receive significantly more of your hard earned dollar.

I challenge you to read my first post in this thread and tell where I am going wrong?

Nhoj

you may be right that some 'parasites' give back as little as they can. However, that is a sweeping statement which is not true in all cases.

I can cite a 1 man band [roughly 200 current employees now from a base of 1 - himself] I personally know who has a very generous profit sharing scheme for his very happy employees. Naturally his pay is more generous as he has rent, utilities, super, company tax etc. to pay, which comes out of his greater percentage of profits.
In 14 years he has never lost an employee to any of his competitors, and he has the smallest office in the building because he spends most of his time with the employees brainstorming new ideas. If someone is late for work one day, they voluntarily make it up by working later another day. This man sees his employees as his most valuable asset, and has the most loyal staff you'd ever encounter.

He's never forgotten that he was also once an unhappy employee, which was the reason he started out on his own in competition with his old company - which eventually folded.

By the same token there are larger companies who realise their workers are happier if they are paid well and seen as a necessary component to the success of the business, and they also go from strength to strength.

I agree that some are too greedy, but this negatively affects the attitude of their employees, and probably their commitment to their employer. It is then up to the employees to apply pressure for more financial equality, and the employer to see where he could benefit from increasing productivity to be able to increase wages. It is a 2 way street, and both sides must collaborate.
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