An inspiring sight from the Egyptian
revolution came in a snippet captured on
video. People who hours earlier had been
protesting were returning to Tahrir Square
armed with mops, brooms and dustpans.
They had marched and rallied, then
danced in the streets as a 30-year
dictatorship reached a peaceful end.
Finally, they returned to restore order and
cleanliness to their staging grounds. You
might say this is where revolution met Miss
Manners.
And there are lessons in it for all of us.
Even as we passionately pursue our
agendas, we can and must remember to
be careful how we do it. The Egyptian
protesters embodied the meaning of
personal responsibility. The mass
movement was made up of thousands of
individuals determined to forge a better
future for their country. Yet they didn't lose
sight of the details of acting civilly.
Civility has been the subject of soul
searching in our own society lately. The
revolution came in a snippet captured on
video. People who hours earlier had been
protesting were returning to Tahrir Square
armed with mops, brooms and dustpans.
They had marched and rallied, then
danced in the streets as a 30-year
dictatorship reached a peaceful end.
Finally, they returned to restore order and
cleanliness to their staging grounds. You
might say this is where revolution met Miss
Manners.
And there are lessons in it for all of us.
Even as we passionately pursue our
agendas, we can and must remember to
be careful how we do it. The Egyptian
protesters embodied the meaning of
personal responsibility. The mass
movement was made up of thousands of
individuals determined to forge a better
future for their country. Yet they didn't lose
sight of the details of acting civilly.
Civility has been the subject of soul
searching in our own society lately. The
president devoted a poignant speech to it
on the heels of the Tucson shooting
rampage last month, calling on Americans
to "listen to each other more carefully, to
sharpen our instincts for empathy, and
remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes
and dreams are bound together." Members
of Congress heeded the call at his State of
the Union address, breaking political ranks
to sit with each other. Here in Iowa, several
civic-minded groups have teamed up and
sponsored a civility lecture series at Drake.
P. M. Forni, author of "Choosing Civility" and
co-founder of the Johns Hopkins Civility
Project, wrapped it up this month. Building
on his 25 rules to live by, the Wallace
Centers of Iowa are holding a series of
Civility Dialogue Lunches to take the
dialogue into the community. Attendees are
asked to sign a Civility Pledge.
We live in a time when polarization and
vitriol are ubiquitous, and random incidents o
f rage make the news daily. In New York,
Maksim Gelman goes on a stabbing spree
and rails about a conspiracy when he's
caught. In Dubuque, Josh Jasper gets death
on the heels of the Tucson shooting
rampage last month, calling on Americans
to "listen to each other more carefully, to
sharpen our instincts for empathy, and
remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes
and dreams are bound together." Members
of Congress heeded the call at his State of
the Union address, breaking political ranks
to sit with each other. Here in Iowa, several
civic-minded groups have teamed up and
sponsored a civility lecture series at Drake.
P. M. Forni, author of "Choosing Civility" and
co-founder of the Johns Hopkins Civility
Project, wrapped it up this month. Building
on his 25 rules to live by, the Wallace
Centers of Iowa are holding a series of
Civility Dialogue Lunches to take the
dialogue into the community. Attendees are
asked to sign a Civility Pledge.
We live in a time when polarization and
vitriol are ubiquitous, and random incidents o
f rage make the news daily. In New York,
Maksim Gelman goes on a stabbing spree
and rails about a conspiracy when he's
caught. In Dubuque, Josh Jasper gets death
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threats for making a video urging men not
to teach their sons violence.
The civility movement has its detractors.
Some call it censorship. Some see it as a
politeness campaign that tries to treat the
manifestations of a problem without getting
at its roots. When people are jobless and
homeless, when politicians pen bills that
deny the humanity of entire groups, and
talk shows bring in ad revenues by insulting
people, why bother to talk about civility?
And indeed, if saying hello to co-workers
and minding your cell phone etiquette were
all it was about, those criticisms would be
valid. But at its best, the civility movement
could prompt personal transformations that
lay the foundation for societal ones. Maybe,
in the course of making ourselves perform
small, selfless acts of consideration to the
community, we'll start to see its interests as
our own.
Ultimately, of course, concern for others is
not just in how we talk but in the laws and
policies we institute. This is where it gets
tricky. It's easy to agree that cutting
someone off in traffic is uncivil. But it's
harder to find agreement on what some
see as the incivility of cutting vulnerable
people off government aid, and others
might say is incivility toward unborn life.
And while Forni urges respect for the
environment and care for animals, does
that unfairly put the onus on individuals,
when corporations might pollute with
impunity, emboldened by lax laws?
We can always pass the buck and shrug off
responsibility. But at its best, the
movement could inspire people to be
to teach their sons violence.
The civility movement has its detractors.
Some call it censorship. Some see it as a
politeness campaign that tries to treat the
manifestations of a problem without getting
at its roots. When people are jobless and
homeless, when politicians pen bills that
deny the humanity of entire groups, and
talk shows bring in ad revenues by insulting
people, why bother to talk about civility?
And indeed, if saying hello to co-workers
and minding your cell phone etiquette were
all it was about, those criticisms would be
valid. But at its best, the civility movement
could prompt personal transformations that
lay the foundation for societal ones. Maybe,
in the course of making ourselves perform
small, selfless acts of consideration to the
community, we'll start to see its interests as
our own.
Ultimately, of course, concern for others is
not just in how we talk but in the laws and
policies we institute. This is where it gets
tricky. It's easy to agree that cutting
someone off in traffic is uncivil. But it's
harder to find agreement on what some
see as the incivility of cutting vulnerable
people off government aid, and others
might say is incivility toward unborn life.
And while Forni urges respect for the
environment and care for animals, does
that unfairly put the onus on individuals,
when corporations might pollute with
impunity, emboldened by lax laws?
We can always pass the buck and shrug off
responsibility. But at its best, the
movement could inspire people to be
responsive to different opinions, and to
hear each other's hopes and fears even as
we disagree on outcomes. That would
certainly be progress.
hear each other's hopes and fears even as
we disagree on outcomes. That would
certainly be progress.
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