Civility requires no operator’s manual, no updates to download, no complicated set of rules. It is simple; it is easy, and it produces positive and constructive human interaction. – The Late Ohio Supreme Court Justice Thomas Moyer

For generations our mothers taught us, “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” Our teachers and families instructed us in the golden rule, “treat others as you would like to be treated.” Civility is easy; it is grounded in principles that have guided humans since the dawn of time. These unchanging truths, these natural laws of human interaction, seem to have taken a back seat – to some – in exchange for winning and social division.

As a society, with the immediacy of social media fueled by technology and the senseless belief that in order to be a winner someone else must in turn be a loser, we must model for today’s children an expectation of civility. Listening and respecting differing opinions isn’t difficult; it simply takes a civil approach to dissension. One of our country’s mottos, e pluribus unum, celebrates our foundation as a country. Out of many peoples, we are one nation. Out of many cultures, religions, and traditions we are all Americans. Civility is a requirement in a diverse society; it produces positive and constructive human interaction.