Civility

I watched a show last week that Oprah did on civility and it has really made me think. It does seem that civility has all but gone out the window these days. They had a list of questions that the audience answered with one of those hand-held voting mechanisms. Here are the questions to show whether you are a rude person or not:

• Are you chronically late? This is rude! They mentioned that someone else's time is just as important as yours so why would you make someone else wait on you?
• Have you ever typed an email while on the phone with someone? I used to do that all the time when I worked (multi-tasking) and I've done it from time to time here at home but I will try not to do it anymore.
• Have you ever interrupted a face-to-face conversation to take a non-urgent cell phone call? I don't think I do this but I will definitely make sure I don't now.
• Have you ever gone through the supermarket 10 item express lane with more than 10 items? Nope, I always count my items and make sure I don't have over 10 if I want to use the express lane.
• Have you ever let your dog "go" on your neighbor's lawn? No. We hate when other people do that to use so we don't let our dog do that to others.
• Have you ever stolen a parking spot from someone? No, I'm pretty patient and would rather just go and look for another one than make someone else mad at me.
• Have you ever gossiped? Uh, yeah, and I don't personally know of anyone who hasn't. The audience poll showed that 97% of them had gossiped and one of the people who answered no said she hit the wrong button so really 98% of the audience has gossiped. This is something that I really try not to do but it is very hard!
• Have you ever taken someone else's food or drink from the office fridge? No, I never did that when I worked. I wouldn't have the heart, plus that is stealing.

A really cool quote they stated on the show is: "We never touch people so lightly that we do not leave a trace." --Peggy Tabor Millin

This is so true! We really need to think about the way we treat others. Think about how you feel when people do things to you, like in the list above. Why would you want to make someone else feel that way--whether you know them or don't know them? Even if it's just a 2-minute interaction with someone at the check-out counter, we can make an impact on that checker for either good or bad. There's just no excuse to be rude to others just because we're in a bad mood or whatever. Just food for thought.