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A Return to Civility The recent historic presidential election in the United States has no doubt made an evolutionary shift in the way we think about race and class and gender, even if it appears as small steps on the surface for us. What stood out for me most was hopefully a shuffle of our group consciousness towards restoring civility to our social discourse. I rarely write about politics and do not care to venture into this arena on a regular basis, but want to use this historic election as a positive example of a promising trend toward returning to a more courteous society. I do not believe that we can make headways in improving our living experiences until we eliminate fear and anger from our attitudes and discussions. How can we educate our children on the need for respect and civility in their music choices or video games or movies, when the nightly news channels are filled with one character assassination after another, in both our political and celebrity reporting? We have become a society who seeks to build up and worship an individual or political party or company, only to turn on them when they fulfill the part we have asked them to play. This can, in many cases, be a macrocosm of how we treat people in our personal lives. I have caught myself recently making negative comments of a person my girls know in front of them and watched how it influenced their own remarks later to someone else. The SIMPLE TRUTH is that civility is the key to reaching real, constructive compromise that will benefit everyone. A respectful, courteous dialogue is not hard to reach, if we are willing to consider the possibility that each of us comes to our own conclusions about what is best based on the accumulation of both positive and negative experiences that influence our position. When people are treated civilly, they are more inclined to drop their defensive posture and become more open to compromise. We cannot peacefully resolve the differences that we have with other countries, until we learn to civilly resolve the differences that we have between the various groups that make up our great country. And we cannot resolve the differences we have between these groups until we have a more compassionate approach to our personal relationships. The rejection by many people here in America of the usual negative campaigning from both political parties during this past election was an encouraging sign that we are moving into a better place to work through the enormous challenges that we face together. I hope that we all can apply this same effort to our personal lives and reach out to each other with civility. Now is the time to make a personal commitment to living a more respectful and appreciative life, so that future generations will have the opportunity to thrive in a world of peace. Darshan welcomes your input on the positive changes that you are seeing in the world around you!
posted by Jodi at 3:58 PM
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