Civility is a trigger word in today’s political climate. Ironically, we use it as a weapon against our enemies. Yet it’s true that our normal political conversation has become far from civil. Civility doesn’t mean cowering in debate or abandoning our values. It means kindness, and respect, and real effort to understand.
A recent school email list I’m on included a notice for a parent steering meeting, and then a curt email asking why such meetings are in the middle of the day, and then a snarky reply that teachers “give their hearts, minds, and souls” to 3,000 kids each day, for a pittance, and can’t come back in the evening for a meeting to accommodate parents who work.