Civility
I wonder how many people feel the way I do about how we humans treat one another. I guess I could do research, casually ask others, even conduct official interviews, but I just wonder. I’m not even sure that I could depend on the responses. Would people be honest, willing to be transparent about what they truly feel or would they hide behind some sort of fear, predisposing them to political correctness or another false face?
I am often still amazed listening to the intransigent voices of political rhetoric and polarity. Can we not have differences of opinion without disrespecting eachother? Do we not understand that it is both healthy and intelligent to examine both sides of an issue with a hope toward compromise? Millions of people are not all right or all wrong, no matter which side we’re on!
Politics is definitely chief among the examples of man’s incivility and unfortunately it is the most visible and constant example. It’s in the daily news, after all, whether we tune in to TV, radio or the internet. We can’t escape it, even if we would rather not be exposed. It makes me think that there is some truth to the John Adams quote that “In politics, the middle way is none at all.”
I subscribe to another quote-that of the Dalai Lama, who said ” People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they’re not on your road does not mean they are lost.” People are not “deplorables” but simply people who happen to have a different opinion and just because you might not share that opinion does not make them wrong and you right or vice versa.
The question is not what has happened so much as what can be done about this misfortune. We always have time for change but we do need collective willingness on the part of participants and society in general. Change isn’t always comfortable even when it is necessary. Respect for our fellow man and plain old civility has to be our guiding principle for us to be a great society—perhaps we could say a great United States.
The word United, again, does not mean that we have to be in total agreement but rather that we make the commitment to explore the possibilities and come to compromise, where each side makes concessions acceptable to both sides, ultimately for the purposes of uniting as one body, one people, one country. This may sound idealistic but I believe it is both attainable and realistic.
About the author, Saleh
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