Society suffers from the glorification of disrespect, the mayor says.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN — It's time for this society to espouse a culture of respect, city and county leaders said at a noon-hour rally on the Mahoning County Courthouse steps in observance of Respect Day.
"Respect is the appreciation for the worth or excellence of a person," Mayor Jay Williams told the assembled judges, lawyers and social service agency representatives Wednesday. "It's often the lack of respect that can be traced to so many of the other problems that we face, whether it's the lack of respect for oneself," or for others or for the law, he added.
"We have unfortunately had to implement a zero-tolerance policy in the city," the mayor said. The policy "serves as a reminder that the law has to be respected and people have to be respected," he added.
Zero tolerance is a policy under which police make frequent traffic stops and enforce the entire range of laws from loitering to littering ordinances.
Violence prevention month
The rally was held to launch Family Violence Prevention Month. It was sponsored by the Tri-County Family Violence Prevention Coalition, a project of the Help Hotline Crisis Center. Help Hotline is a Youngstown-based 24-hour telephone crisis intervention, information and referral service.
Unfortunately, the mayor said, this society suffers "from the iconization of people who are disrespectful, whether its shock-jock radio or trash TV or music lyrics" that are disrespectful in the entertainment media. "Some members of society find pleasure in them," he added.
What some consider entertainment today would have been considered disrespectful decades ago, he noted. "We're paying people millions and millions of dollars for the breakdown of society," Williams said.
"That permeates our families and our young people. Our young people have become desensitized to issues of respect," for themselves, their elders or society, he said. "The condition of our families is a direct reflection of the condition of the community.
"I am going to make a conscious effort to be more respectful, even when someone disagrees or says something I don't like or isn't very nice. I'm going to do my best to set an example for our young people to be respectful, even in the face of that opposition or that difficulty," he said, urging other community leaders to do the same.
Hair-trigger tempers
Unfortunately, our society today "is so fast-paced that everybody's tempers seem to be flared, whether it's somebody honking the horn, somebody giving somebody the sign, or somebody yelling at somebody in the office," said Anthony Traficanti, chairman of the county commissioners and a licensed social worker.
Disrespect transcends racial, generational and income levels, he observed. "It is everywhere ever present," he added.
The rally included presentations of proclamations and resolutions from the mayor, Youngstown City Council and the county commissioners and a certificate of congressional recognition.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Society suffers from the glorification of disrespect, the mayor says.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN — It's time for this society to espouse a culture of respect, city and county leaders said at a noon-hour rally on the Mahoning County Courthouse steps in observance of Respect Day.
"Respect is the appreciation for the worth or excellence of a person," Mayor Jay Williams told the assembled judges, lawyers and social service agency representatives Wednesday. "It's often the lack of respect that can be traced to so many of the other problems that we face, whether it's the lack of respect for oneself," or for others or for the law, he added.
"We have unfortunately had to implement a zero-tolerance policy in the city," the mayor said. The policy "serves as a reminder that the law has to be respected and people have to be respected," he added.
Zero tolerance is a policy under which police make frequent traffic stops and enforce the entire range of laws from loitering to littering ordinances.
Violence prevention month
The rally was held to launch Family Violence Prevention Month. It was sponsored by the Tri-County Family Violence Prevention Coalition, a project of the Help Hotline Crisis Center. Help Hotline is a Youngstown-based 24-hour telephone crisis intervention, information and referral service.
Unfortunately, the mayor said, this society suffers "from the iconization of people who are disrespectful, whether its shock-jock radio or trash TV or music lyrics" that are disrespectful in the entertainment media. "Some members of society find pleasure in them," he added.
What some consider entertainment today would have been considered disrespectful decades ago, he noted. "We're paying people millions and millions of dollars for the breakdown of society," Williams said.
"That permeates our families and our young people. Our young people have become desensitized to issues of respect," for themselves, their elders or society, he said. "The condition of our families is a direct reflection of the condition of the community.
"I am going to make a conscious effort to be more respectful, even when someone disagrees or says something I don't like or isn't very nice. I'm going to do my best to set an example for our young people to be respectful, even in the face of that opposition or that difficulty," he said, urging other community leaders to do the same.
Hair-trigger tempers
Unfortunately, our society today "is so fast-paced that everybody's tempers seem to be flared, whether it's somebody honking the horn, somebody giving somebody the sign, or somebody yelling at somebody in the office," said Anthony Traficanti, chairman of the county commissioners and a licensed social worker.
Disrespect transcends racial, generational and income levels, he observed. "It is everywhere ever present," he added.
The rally included presentations of proclamations and resolutions from the mayor, Youngstown City Council and the county commissioners and a certificate of congressional recognition.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
It's time for this society to espouse a culture of respect, city and county leaders said at a noon-hour rally on the...
