At Large

It was, in fact, a close call … for which we are very grateful. The on-coming car did not bother to indicate that a left turn was in its immediate future and also didn’t seem to mind that we were motoring straight ahead in the opposite direction. Age may have taken its toll on some functions, but hitting the brakes to avoid a crash is not one of them.

We came to a sudden stop as our opponent in this latter-day joust careened left and rolled off in a cloud of … well, let’s just admit that the language we employed for the soundtrack was not the most gracious.

Certainly, this was not the first driving misbehavior that we’d witnessed in the past few months. High speed passing in a “no passing” zone has become quite common. Simply pulling out of a side street without bothering to see if there is any on-coming traffic is another. Driving past a stopped school bus. The demise of the turn signal is almost a given. And, the list goes on.

Loss of civic virtue?

Safely home with language settling back into the normal ebb and flow without invective, the usual “post-traumatic musing” kicked in. Are drivers getting worse? Is it no longer in fashion to hold a door open for someone lugging grocery bags? Are such archaic terms as “please” and “thank you” so outmoded that we’re simply succumbing to a crippling case of being old fashioned? Will the rest of life be distilled into three or four letter acronyms? LOL … or not. WTF.

It would be overly simplistic to blame one person or even one historic event on what some have decided is “the decline and fall of the American Empire.” Consider for a moment the monumental work of historian Edward Gibbon. It took him thirteen years (1776 to 1789) to write six volumes of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Among other reasons for the crumbling of the Roman Empire, Gibbon cited “loss of civic virtue.”

Hmmm.

Is there a lesson here? 

This is not intended to be read as “another senile nut-job unhappy about things.” At least, I hope not. It is, however, the gentle raising of a hand, hoping the moderator will acknowledge us and give us the microphone.

In many decades of reasonable consciousness and periodic attention paying, it would be hard to recall a period of time that has not been so punctuated with vitriol and bad behavior. Pick any group, mainstream or fractional minority, and consider how they (we?) have been marginalized, berated, alienated. No, we weren’t being humiliated because the on-coming driver didn’t signal a turn. We were merely the collateral damage of the need to be first, important and in charge.  

Louder is not better

There is a beauty and gentleness about this part of the country, from the elegant changing of seasons to the overarching quietness that attends our lives. We have arts and culture, commerce and enterprise, dialog, disagreement, and pervasive community pride and respect.  

It is very important that we do not lose our civility … our “civic virtue.”

If the preceding months of campaign rhetoric have shown us anything more than the capacity of some to shout hate and untruth in the public marketplace, it may have whispered the idea that merely shouting louder changes little. Standing on a street corner in Paris many years ago, we overheard an American tourist repeatedly raising the volume of his voice a few decibels above tolerance in an obvious attempt to have a local resident understand a question. Louder didn’t work. Not everyone in the world speaks English.

As we age, it is, perhaps, worth realizing that only we are responsible for our actions. Only we, as individuals, are responsible for our reactions and responses.  

Michael Jackson profoundly pointed out in one of his many hit songs (written by Glen Ballard and Siedah Garrett), to change, we can only look to “the man in the mirror.” “Woman” also equally applies.

“I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change’”
… and please use your turn signal. •