Civility
There is so much to miss these days, from getting together with people to being able to make plans; I believe that regardless of how long this virus last, it will come to an end and I will once again be able to go shopping or on vacation. But I am also missing civility; and I fear that it may never return.
“Thank you”, “please”, or “excuse me”; do you remember those words? Do you remember when we were civil, at least in public?
There was a time when we could disagree with each other, and not feel the need to call one another names. People on television did not swear or make blatantly dishonest statements. In private there were even unwritten rules about what was appropriate to talk about, in anything but the most intimate group.
Yes, politics is leading this this unpleasant discourse. I remember a time, not that long ago, when if our candidate lost, we comforted ourselves with the thought that we get to try again in the next election. We would not talk about civil wars or coups; but rather about how we needed to work harder to get our message out. No one would even think of suggesting that a candidate, who lost, would refuse to vacate the office – especially not the person living in the White House.
There would never be talk about the military removing someone; or for that matter, the military being needed to patrol the streets of the United States.
But now we attack everything, nothing is sacrosanct; who would think of making disparaging comments about the post office? I remember when postal employees were looked at almost with the same regard as police people. Yes, I know we are now living in a world that wants to defund the police, an idea which I cannot imagine or support; and where police are called names, pelted with objects, spit on, and even hunted down and shot.
Lately, there is even endless chatter about the upcoming election results being unreliable. Why would anyone think it possible for an election to be rigged? If nowhere else in the world, these were not things, which happened in the United States.
The rhetoric today makes it almost impossible to stay shocked for too long a time, because the next news cycle brings newly unimaginable statements into play.
What has happened? When did we go from being polite to be being rude and even crude?
I know I have a tendency to look at the past nostalgically, often in error; but I do not think I am idealizing by gone days.
I understand growing pains and that we are trying to address social issues; if you remember four years ago I was quite excited to have two Cuban-American Senators vying to be our next President. I would still like to be able to cast a vote, one day, for a woman to be our President. But meanwhile, I would like to go back to a time when it was not unusual to hear “thank you”, “please”, or “excuse me”; will join me in trying to bring civility back into fashion, please. That is all for now.
