A long time ago, I heard the words, “show some respect.” They were uttered in disgust by my Father at something I had done. I knew I was in the wrong, but the weight of those words took years to register to me. I didn’t understand all the nuances that a statement like that can hold. As with so many other teenagers, (and even tweens), I was very literal.
Now that I have a daughter of my own, I have a better sense of what both sides might have been thinking. I imagine what my Father was really saying to me, and I understand, with a certain level of shame, how I was defiantly trying to make my own way in the world.
This summer, I came across a song on a local country radio station that puts thoughtful context to those 3 words.
Show some respect by Bobby Wills
He said Hey 22, I wore that jersey too. You see me now, you’d never know I was a one man show Back in the good old days Us boys could really play We almost took it all the way To state that year So remember all the rest That wore that number on your chest And show some respect
Young kid playin’ in a bar With an old beat up guitar No idea of all the nights It used to shine in neon lights Never thought of all the hands All the hours, dreams and plans And all the thrown-together bands it made it through It needs a lot of love So when you pick it up Show some respect
CHORUS Some things are more than things More than steel, wood or strings More than what a person sees with the naked eye More than just history They’ve left behind a legacy Some things have earned their keep a hundred times
So you took that beat up truck Lifted the whole thing up Put lights all over it Big tires and a muffler kit But I bet you never gave much thought To the man that paid it off With the hay and feed he had to haul In the scorching sun So don’t drive so fast And get your feet down off the dash And show some respect
CHORUS
Take a look around today At everything we throw away We’re all so busy running fast We breeze right by the things that last Like a hundred year old Georgia pine That loves to stand the test of time Your Grandpa’s old Case pocket knife He used to whittle with So when you’re around A piece of sacred ground Show some respect
It didn’t start with you There were lots of others too So show some respect