One of our members wrote in to the Jonesboro Sun.

On the subject of respect, allow me to pass along a quotation I came across a few years ago that I hope readers will take time to think about when they see discussions of abuse of power by police on the news.

Sometimes people use “respect” to mean “treating someone like a person” and sometimes they use “respect” to mean “treating someone like an authority.” This means sometimes people who are used to being treated like an authority say, “If you don’t respect me I won’t respect you” but what they mean is, “If you don’t treat me like an authority I won’t treat you like a person.”

They think they’re being fair but they aren’t, and it’s not OK.

Zachariah Carlson
Jonesboro

You can read the letter on The Jonesboro Sun website. We encourage all members to write in about issues they’re concerned about. You can submit letters online here.