com·i·ty /ˈkämədē/
- Courtesy and considerate behavior toward others.
I was perusing a magazine the other day and one article’s headers popped: 1. There’s never an excuse for bad manners. 2. History smiles kindly on quiet resilience. 3. It also enjoys a good joke. 4. Know when to leave the party. I did laugh because the article turned out to be a history lesson and did reference the famously boorish orange citizen it implied. Now that the Twitter temperature has been turned down, can America step away from the screen to embrace our better natures?
Civility, deference, cordiality, honesty: when, exactly, did these traits we used to admire and embrace begin to be denigrated in the American culture as weaknesses? How do we adjust the narrative? How do we counteract the fear that leads to tribalism?
We have come through a tremendously trying year. Even after losing so many and facing great economic and existential challenges, so many rose to support others with grace and goodwill. We invite our authors and artists to honor our heroes and states persons by recognizing extraordinary acts of kindness toward our fellow travelers and planet, to share how ordinary people rose above divisiveness, to explore how people embodied the strength of the human spirit.
Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages. -Thomas Edison, inventor (11 Feb 1847-1931)
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