Merinder's House

If I were to be asked about my favourite fairy tale, I would have no hesitation in naming the Pied Piper, because it is so obviously about a fundamental human respect. I suppose most of the fairy tales are really. When someone does a job in good faith, or puts themselves on the line for something or someone, and when they are treated with disdain or given no thanks, or are rejected, they may simply be hurt and say nothing.

The second time, however, if they are optimistic and keep on trying, they are likely to be puzzled about whether there is something callous in human nature, and they may ask themselves why this keeps happening, why they seem to have been born cannon fodder. Finally, if they keep walking back and feeding themselves to the lions (because human beings are not born victims or anything else for that matter), they may become angry and lash out, but for some reason, it keeps happening. By this time, it does not matter what they do. It always elicits a lack of respect in some form or other. Each time they extend a hand to help, it is returned with indifference or a qualifying “but”, as though it were their fault for being ingenuous in the ways of the world.

Then, like the Pied Piper, they may (quietly so that no-one notices until it is too late) take away the thing they know is the most precious, and this time there will be no negotiation. For the Pied Piper, it was not about the money, it was about the lack of respect for his work, something the councillors needed but could not understand. They believed they were stronger, and did not need to respect what they did not understand.

Respect is a basic human right. We should start out with it in life. It may be lost with imprudence, but that is a person’s own responsibility. In Spain, the law gives motorists ten points on their license, and for each offence, they take one away. In Britain, however, they are initially given none, and earn the respect of the authorities only by remaining at zero. Perhaps this reflects more than an attitude towards the road.

People are not born victims of ill-will, they are born into societies where basic respect for fellow human beings is either a given or has to be won by fighting your way through, often with nothing at the other side. I am increasingly of the opinion that respect is not ours to hand out as we choose. It is a basic necessity we should guard with all the human honour we can muster, lest our children be spirited away on a cloud of our own arrogance.