It occurs to me that in our current society there is little evidence of civility. On the contrary nearly everywhere we turn there seems a scarcity of common decency, even the occasional appearance of blatant disrespect.
On television we see pundits (loudly) over-talking each other; some would call it out shouting. In traffic, rather than waving someone into the line of traffic more commonly we shake our fists (or worse). At the grocery store we fail to notice that the person standing behind us only has a couple of items and a cranky toddler in tow. What happened to courtesy?
In the struggle to keep up with of our fast-paced society and in our fight to maintain economic stability some have become self-centered, demanding and impatient. Recent headlines about a flight attendant who publicly berated a contentious passenger over the intercom when the plane landed, grabbed a beer from the beverage cart and exited the plane via the emergency evacuation slide speaks volumes to this disquiet.
Out of fear, or perhaps ignorance even more of us have become intolerant of those from unfamiliar cultural backgrounds or with differing political or religious preferences. Our airwaves are filled with bitter and vitriolic rhetoric, and debates over particularly sensitive issues have all too often turned ugly and threatening.
And yet….and yet…if one looks closely there are signs everywhere of a new attitude of community barn-building afoot. An old fashioned sense of grass-roots-give-a-damn is emerging. People of all ages and from all walks of life are stepping forward to use their time, talent and dollars and in their own way are taking action to make the world a better place.
We may be facing the end of the world as we have known it. Will we choose Civility in order to survive as a society? Or in our current state of incivility will we stand by and watch as it further unravels into armed camps of polarity?
The choice is ours.
Cosmic Gardener - Cultivating a Life 