Civility and Kindness

Remember all the rules that we grew up with? Well, maybe we grew up with?

Don't talk with your mouth full.
Show up on time.
No elbows on the table.
"Yes, sir" or "No, sir"

Many people would identify the lack of civility and kindness as important aspects of our lives that are missing.

The Smithsonian Magazine highlighted the work of Professor Pier M. Forni of Johns Hopkins in promoting civility. I've not read his book, but I will.

Whether we call the issue civility, kindness, working together, or conflict resolution, all of these cultural issues result in stress and lack of community. As Professor Forni points out, we are social creatures, needing to be in community, and the lack of kindness and civility that we show each other is not only troubling from an ethical, moral, and religious points of view, but also causes great havoc in quantitative measures. Stress leads to decreased productivity at work, increased health problems, and torments the relationships we have with others. The role of conflict in the workplace, and the quantifiable damages conflict causes, is well documented and has been discussed in this blog.

As we end 2008 and look forward to 2009, let's take a moment and resolve to treat each other with kindness and civility. Who knows, maybe, just maybe, we may be the recipient of someone's kindness. Wouldn't that be nice?