Civility:Can We Just Have Some Civility!

This weekend showed us that fame and fortune is not all that matters sometimes it just takes a little civility. Civility you may ask? Yes plain old civility – courtesy and politeness!

An attitude that would have served both Kanye West and Serena Williams well – a little civility.

I’m sure by now that you have either seen or heard about the meltdown of Serena Williams in her semifinal match at the US open. Undoubtedly, the calls may have been frustrating but you must agree that Serena did cross line.

Her actions  and the attitude in which she went after the line judge was certainly well below the standards that we have grown to expect from the Williams’ sisters.  And we a sports fan would like to see models for our younger athletes. Because there’s no doubt that once the envelope has been pushed others will try doing the same.

While I accept Serena’s apology, I disagree wholeheartedly with her comments that her  actions are the just the results of being young.  She has shown us in the past that both her and Venus are a class act and we expect no less of her in the future!

Serena is certainly at the top of her game and her actions on and off the tennis court should be befitting her world ranking status. But it teaches a valuable lesson that no matter how powerful or successful you become that you must always have regard for yourself and the image you portrayed in public. Because it doesn’t take much to take the gloss off a reputation that may have taken you years to build.

Serena showed us that, all could be lost in one moment of tirade.  My wish is that for her sake this is not her fate and that the tennis world would forgive her for her actions.

Kanye West  on the other hand continues to be the bad boy that he is. And clearly indicate the point that I made earlier that once someone has pushed the envelope to its extreme then others will try to say.  his actions are nothing new and certainly if Serena and was made to pay $10,000 in fines, then there should be an appropriate way of making  Kanye pay for his actions.

The greater concern for me though is that this lack of civility seem to be permeating every sphere of our society -  it is seen in the religious,  political,  social and sporting arenas.   What does it say of us when we can’t even have a president of the United States deliver a presentation to congressional leaders without being confronted.

So the question is, what’s really going on?  Why are we behaving this way?  But I think the real issue is what can we do to change this?

 the answer I feel is found in the Golden rule to want to others as you would have them do unto you. If we begin to practice this rule and then we’ll begin to see the return of civility civility that’s right plain old courtesy and politeness!