Time for a Return to Common Sense

Where has our civility toward one another gone? I’m not talking “old fashioned” vs. modern, trendy behavior. I’m talking plain old courtesy and respect for others. World news is full of recent stories of one person’s disrespectful acts toward another. In Hollywood. In politics. In sports.
For those of you who caught the Academy Awards on Feb. 27, when did it become okay to drop the “F-bomb” during an acceptance speech broadcast worldwide? When did it become okay for a top-paid TV actor, Charlie Sheen, to launch a public, vulgar and anti-Semitic rant against his show’s creator?
In politics it’s no better – only the stakes are even higher, too often resulting in bodily harm and assaults. Our political divides have given way to almost criminal disregard for our universal rights to respect and personal safety.
Think Lara Logan, attacked while reporting events in Egypt for CBS. Or Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, shot in the head while shaking hands with her constituents.
There is a line between “refreshing honesty,” and vulgarity and boorish behavior. If that line’s become blurry, perhaps it’s time we draw a new one.
— Fran