[eweissenbach]

My parents taught me to respect other people's opinions, even those that differed from mine, and try to find areas of agreement and commonality. That I should empathize with people who are of different persuasions and try to understand what in their lives makes them feel, think, or act the way they do. One story that I think illustrates the way I was brought up; I was about 10 years old and President Eisenhower was on the television, giving a speech. I was talking to someone else and said out loud - "He's an idiot" - referring to someone else we were talking about. My mother overheard me and thought I was saying that about the president, and gave me a stern lecture, saying that he was the president and should always be shown the proper respect, and never called names. Now I was well aware that my mother was a dyed in the wool Roosevelt democrat, and it struck me at the time, and has stayed with me to this day, that she was defending the honor of a president with whom she disagreed and opposed. I am glad I had the parental guidance that I had and wish more people had had the same.