Civility and Self-Control

Civility n: formal politeness and courtesy in behavior or speech.

⁶ Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. Colossians 4:6 English Standard Version

            President Trump in a late-night flurry of postings on social media included a short video that portrayed former President Obama and his wife as apes. After an outcry of outrage, disgust, and disapproval, he had the post removed. While I am glad that he did remove the post, I find it once again exhibits the moral turpitude of the man who holds the highest office in our country. Many of his supporters laud his speech as “telling it like it is” however, his lack of civility…basic decency…displays a lack of self-control and hubris.

            Were this a solitary act one might excuse it as a momentary lapse; but, this is only one act in a vast constellation of similar deeds spewing out of the president and his administration. He and his administration seem intent on casting off all bonds of normal civility. They express great disdain for what was once common civility, regarding it as a weakness. Civility is not a weakness. It is the self-control that enables rational discourse between individuals, businesses, and parties when seeking common ground to solve problems. Such racist posts turn the clock back to a coarser time, a time when we more easily gave vent to our darker impulses. These things work against our better aspirations as a nation and a people.

            We would do well to remember the soaring words of our Declaration, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Or the equally eloquent words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” These, these are the better angles of our national character that President Lincoln referenced in his first inaugural address. We should also keep close the words of the ancient writer of proverbs who said, “²¹ Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” Proverbs 18:21

            As citizens, as Christians, we must undertake the arduous task of inculcating civility, in ourselves and in our leaders. The more we allow or embrace a culture of coarseness and its attendant malignant speech the more we will find our society, culture, and nation descending into a darker place, a place in which the strong brutalize the weak. This is not the behavior of a civilized nation, much less one that many claim is founded on Judeo-Christian principles.

            As one who seeks to walk in the way that Jesus did, I cannot condone such speech. I must speak out when I see or hear such cancerous speech. I expect my leaders to set a higher example in speech and deed. I’m pleased that President Trump took down such an offensive post. I would be even more pleased if we as a nation were to demand better behavior from our leaders…and ourselves.