Rules of Civility

 

 

 

Way back in 2015, I approached my local gym, only to discover that a new sign had been glued to the entry way. I stood there, in shock. And then, I took this photograph of the sign before I walked into the office of the owner of gym and explained my concerns:

Suppose, I’m coming out of my Pilates class one day and some guy's gun goes off and kills me?

Please picture this encounter--I'm a senior citizen and I'm not very big. I'm nice. Sweet. Motherly. In fact, I said, I could be your mother!

And this extremely muscled young man said:

Well yeah, but I really believe in supporting the Second Amendment.

I wish I had come back with, well, I believe in the First Amendment and that’s why I was registering this complaint. (But, I actually didn't have the presence of mind.) Plus, I didn’t want to get into a tussel with this young man.

This encounter brings me to thoughts about the late Charlie Kirk. He believed in the Second Amendment--the right to carry weapons. But, let’s not forget that he also believed in the First Amendment—the right to free speech. In fact, this particular Amendment provided him with a career as a political pod caster and speech-maker.

Sometimes, these two Amendments--the first and the second can create an unfortunate convergence of two dueling concepts. Guns are powerful and can kill. Speech is powerful too, especially if it’s incendiary. The kind of speech that includes cruelty and name-calling combined with the availability of weapons are the very thing that has brought us to this very dangerous time in history.

A time lacking all civility.

The father of our country understood the importance of civility. He knew that freedom can only work if we are polite to one another. Kind. Courtesy. If we listen and respect one another. In fact, he wrote the book called The Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation. The book included common sense ideas on how to behave in public and in private. He wrote about proper etiquette and importantly--how to control one's emotions, one's passions. Yes, this was the gentleman who founded our country.

Creative Friends--your assignment for this week is to practice civility. Support your beliefs with intelligence and humility, compassion, kindness and dignity.

And, let’s lower the temperature.

Love,

Jamie