A Call for Civility in This Moment

90% of poll voters on CNN.com say that society in general is becoming less civil. 9 out of 10 visitors to the website of "the most trusted name in news" think that we are going in an uncivilized direction in this country. That is telling.

This has been a strange time for news. Bob Dylan hit the nail on the head in the 60s, saying, "The times, they are a-changin'." That sentiment holds true 40 years later. Think about the rhetoric one year ago. Markets crashed because the Republican Presidential candidate said "the fundamentals of our economy were strong." The first major female Republican Vice-Presidential candidate called the Democratic Presidential candidate sexist for characterizing earmark spending, like any other lawmaker speaking colloquially would, as "putting lipstick on a pig." Shouts of "socialist" and "communist" plagued the first female Republican Vice-Presidential candidate's rallies, in reference to the first African-American major-party Presidential candidate. For a country enmeshed in many firsts, the rhetoric and name-calling was something rooted in past civil rights struggles of the 19th and 20th centuries.

When the African-American candidate, Barack Obama, got elected, elevated into the Oval Office by appealing to "the moment," he nor the country really understood how pivotal a moment it really was. The cycle of Republican followed by Democratic Presidents, years alternating between left or right-sided conversation guiding the country, had continued, adding another four years to the score. In the twenty years preceding, however, this process seemed to work. One ideology would be elected into power, with the minority effectively challenging and keeping the majority in check on the sidelines. Over the past 20 years or so, we've had an effective democracy in this sense. If the constituents disagreed with those in charge, they were demoted in the next election. Think George H.W. Bush, Al Gore, Tom Daschle, Ted Stevens, Norm Coleman, and the list goes on.

However, "the moment" began last year with the election of Barack Obama as President. This is a moment in time that has seemed to have changed the dynamic of the national conversation. In an election that seemed to bring the people back into the process--Barack Obama had street teams in every state, getting out the vote, which was a large part of his success--the people have since become relentless in their desire to stay in the process.

Twitter, the social network of sharing one's thoughts to the world in 140 characters or less, has become so ubiquitous that average Joe or "Sam" Wurzelbacher can find out what Miley Cyrus had for dinner last night. It is a way for average people to contribute to a national conversation, and it proved its worth in June when Iranians used twitter to break news to the world of the tyranny and injustice going on in the country that media outlets, symbols of democracy, were denied from covering.

Twitter has gotten more people talking, but has it been for the better? In government, there still needs to be a separation, a sense of respect between average citizens and our representatives. Yes, of course they are people too, but they are a dignified few who we millions believe should lead us through hard times, dealing with hard issues. The Twitterevolution in Iran set the tone for the summer, where Americans, becoming further stretched economically, took their frustrations out on the President's new health care plan.

In a society where everyone places their own voice on a pedestal for others to read and comment on, even journalists are losing their holier-than-thou lyrical luster. Everyone deserves the right to free speech; that is at the heart of democracy and these United States. But there has been a sense of egocentrism that has pervaded our society. Suddenly, constituents were haranguing their representatives, who voluntarily spent their summer breaks talking to them in the first place, about designing a society that would be better for all, where every person could have health coverage and where prices for insurance and the monetary cost of overall wellness would decrease.

However, once again, extremism took over rationalism. Instead of engaging in civil conversation, people across the country berated each other and their representatives in government who were trying to do the right thing. Media, social networks, and the click of a mouse and tap of a keyboard all contributed to the country's obsession with buzzwords like "death panels" and "public option." The wildfire of miscommunication began as quickly as one can type the acronym for "retweet." And our egocentrism has led our own people to ignore others as if they were sitting in the sandbox, one person plugging his ears, saying "nanny nanny poo poo" while the other is speaking.

Call it miscommunication or misunderstanding, whatever you call it, it is still lack of civility on the part of Americans. Instead of constructive criticism, we see Nazi swastikas, portraits of President Obama with a likening of Hitler, and elected officials hanging in effigy. Congressman Joe Wilson from South Carolina rudely interrupted the President's address to a joint-session of Congress in September, screaming "YOU LIE!" as the President outlined his ideas for reform. He is no better than the constituents that no doubt berated him, yet his outburst has given him over a million dollars towards his re-election campaign. In the same week, tennis player Serena Williams and rap artist Kanye West both contributed to Joe Wilson-style outbursts that were tweeted and retweeted, steering the national conversation to a more divisive tone of incivility.

President Obama's moment was intended to unite a country divided on war, poverty, climate, and social issues aplenty, but it seems the timing of his moment and society's reaction to it have enveloped his overall message.

Despite calls from some Democrats, including the President, to drop the issue regarding Joe Wilson's outburst, a resolution passed in Congress today, admonishing the lawmaker for embarrassing the House chambers and ignoring proper rules for decorum. During the resolution's arguments, I found part of Wilson's fellow South Carolinian Congressman James Clyburn's statement on the floor particularly interesting:
"This Hall is the most prominent classroom in this great country, and all of us are teachers. We are bound by duty and the offices we hold to conduct ourselves as such. Classroom teachers and school children across the country and around the world looking in on our proceedings should see proper decorum and hear civil discourse. Our teachers are expected to teach and our students to learn proper behavior. All of us are expected to give appropriate support and deference to the institutions that help us develop and maintain a civil and orderly society."

Whether you agree Joe Wilson should have received a formal repudiation or not, there is something beholden to all Americans in Rep. Clyburn's statement--that we should all give "support and deference to the institutions that help us develop and maintain a civil and orderly society." In this moment, if we don't have civility and order, the bedrock of this country could crumble, and 233 years of progress could fall out from underneath us.

And that's nothing to tweet about.

Anticipation

Sitting here on the eve of my third year teaching, listening to Bruce Hornsby croon and Bela Fleck pluck the banjo, my anxiety and excitement are palpable. Every teacher knows the feeling; at least the good ones do. About 18 hours before that first bell rings, a pit forms in the stomach. It starts off about the size of a peach pit, when thoughts of the last summer day are still encompassing the mind's eye, but by dinnertime on that last night, the pit has grown to the size of a melon in anticipation for the 150 new faces to meet and entertain tomorrow.

Visions take shape of men and women in suits, shaking the hands of the young men and women who will enter the room 180 times for the next year, wherein they will experience--among other things like eating, entertaining, bad acting, singing, laughing, occasional crying, yelling, reading, and expounding--most of all, learning. Yes, this is the business of learning and for those critics who say teachers have it easy, with all the time off and all the cushioning that comes with the job, I ask them to experience the 24 hour anticipation that comes with each new year, knowing that what happens when that bell rings will shape the relationship with those 150 kids for the next year, and quite possibly for the rest of their lives. Now that's some heavy stuff.