Respect. Self respect, respect for others, and respect for the community. The more modern society becomes, the less respect people have.

We have been taught not to discriminate. Everyone is equal. This is a good thing to teach since so many are homeless or can't afford to buy the necessities to take care of themselves. However, people now have the attitude that they can wear whatever they please and look however they want to and they'll still be accepted in society.

Yes, there's still discrimination, and always will be. However, most people just tolerate whatever because it's unacceptable not to. There are many who don't learn self respect because of this. Just look at how teen pregnacy has increased over the past 70 years. Would teen pregnancy be such a big problem if these young girls respected themselves? Or if the father's of these babies respected themselves? Or if these teens respected their parents or even each other? This is just one of a million examples out there today.

I have three children. It's very sad when you can't enjoy a day a the local community park without having to make sure that they leave their shoes on, no matter how hot the summer day, because of fear of stepping on used hypodermic needles left littering the ground. My children think it's awful that I don't clean them up when we find them because of fear of being arrested for drugs if somebody sees you touching them. Even if I did clean them up, you can't just drop them in the garbage can at the park, they have to be disposed of properly.

Think about it. In the 1800's respect was everywhere. Just watch an old episode of "Little House on the Prairie" and you'll know what I mean. Compare these children and adults to people of today and you'll see how extreme the difference is. It what makes me envy the Amish communities? Amish communities are built on faith, family, love, and respect. Ours is built on technology.

Misconception
Most people who don't live in New York state have a false conception of what it is like where I live. Many people think of the entire state as being just New York City. When you say you are from Florida, from Utah, or any other state, people ask wher in Florida, or where in Utah, ect. When I say I am from New York, they don't ask where in NY. Instead I hear things like "I've been there", or "wow, I'd like to go to New York someday". I have actually never been to New York City (NYC) in my life. It would be a 6 hour drive from my house. Most people where I live are so used to country living and driving that they fear going to NYC and getting lost or just driving in such heavey traffic that they have no experience of. That's why I have never been there. I want to go there someday, but will take a tour bus when I go. This way I won't have to drive in the heavy traffic or worry about getting lost, hahaha.

My real home, is so far out in the country, the nearest city is a one hour drive. I live on a property that is more than 100 acres of land. People drive all the way out here to get away from the business of the city and relax. I can go hiking, fishing, camping, or hunting and never leave my own back yard.

I have well water because you can't get town water where I live. I have bottled propane delivered to have gas to cook with because you can't get natural gas at my house. I have dial up internet service because you can't get high speed internet where I live. To get high speed interent, you must have acess to cable and you can't get cable TV here either.

My town is so small, we don't have a school or a post office. We get our mail from a neighboring town and share their zip cope. My children go to school in another neighboring town and have a one hour ride on the school bus. Our town is mostly houses and farm land. We do have a fire house with 3 fire trucks. We also have a church with about 30 people who attend. There is a small cemetary and a country corner store where you can still buy penny candy. That's about it. If you've seen these places, then you've toured my whole town. After you've seen it all, just sit back, relax, and enjoy the scenery. That's what my home is all about.

Kindergarten through third grade I loved school, but after that no. I was bored and mostly read books which I held just below the desk so the teachers didn't notice I was reading my own books and not the text books on the desk. I didn't pay attention and never did the homework...just kept reading! The teachers used to tell me I would never pass would all the 0's in homework. However, I did so well on all the tests, it would pull my grade up to just above passing. Of course, now I appreciate learning a lot more and wish I had done better in school. I am always researching and learning new things on my own or from other people. Because of the things I did in school and got away with, I am strict with my own children when it comes to school work. They will never get away with doing what I used to do in school. My two oldest both went through a short phase of not doing homework. The TV, computer, play station, and telephone privileges were all taken away until the home work was caught up. It didn't take them long to get back on track. I also told them that if they didn't take care of their responsibilities in school that I had no problem with home schooling them instead. They both thought that would be great at first. So we spent a weekend pretending they were being home schooled. By Monday they were ready to have their regular teachers back. I know what they are capable of and therefor the work I gave them challenged their abilities more than their regular teachers at school who have to work at the pace of the happy medium for a class.