Civility Like Grade School
I read recently that the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library will introduce a new institute based on civility. Not civics. Not the future of America. Civility.
At first, I was struck by this. Why was it necessary? And then I watched the news for 10 minutes and realized this is probably long overdue. Whether it's the simple-minded perspective of elected officials in Washington, the person who you just accidentally cut off while driving to work, or that parent watching their 10-year-old child play YMCA baseball, civility seems to have been lost. And it doesn't seem to be getting any closer to being found at all.
Isn't this the first thing we learned when we went to kindergarten? And then had it reinforced almost every year for the first few years of grade school? Maybe Robert Fulghum was right….. Everything we need to know we did learn in kindergarten. Just think about your favorite elementary school teacher and how they might have had terse words for someone else, or heaven's sake you, on the playground when you weren't playing well with others. And maybe you had parents like mine that if they found out, whatever the teacher said would have paled in comparison to what would have been done at home.
I don't know yet who's going to be eligible for this civility institute. Maybe we could create a process where certain people are mandated to attend. I'm sure we both could name a few off the top of our heads.
I find myself matriculating more and more often, now that I think about it, to smaller groups of individuals who are more civil. Who are easy to get along with. Who don’t make a ruckus every time there's something going on. It's not that I'm compromising my beliefs or morals, I'm just finding people who either more align with me or who aren't going to throw my morals and values back in my face.
Much of the time, when away from work, I just want to sit and have a good time with others. I'm not looking for a fight. Why are so many people aiming to create one?
