Ray’s Daily
November 9, 2020
Civility costs nothing, and buys everything.
Mary Wortley Montagu
I am disappointed that I can only speak to my wife via phone as her facility is on lockdown since one of their caregivers has been found to have the virus.I am glad that they are being careful but I do miss being alble to walk over and see her.
I am so glad the elections are over I only hope that we can find a way to minimize the animosity created by the constant polarizing rhetorice of the campaings. I yearn for the civility and cooperation that can result in our solving our problems. It is time we respect all or fellow citizens and work for the common good.
I like the following piece I copied form Wikipedia as it offers how we can do better.
Civility
Many experts on civility cite that Civility actually goes beyond good manners and listening attentively, but actually includes sharing our own beliefs and values with others through some type of engagement with the intent of sincere respect towards one another. This also requires a willingness and open mindedness to having our opinions and biases challenged by others who share a different and perhaps completely unique perspectives and points of view. Experts say that our ability to act with civility is deeply connected with our ability to understand our own emotions, because understanding our own feelings will help us to recognize how we are feeling in real-time and give us a greater ability to have empathy for others. Furthermore, understanding our own personal feelings can help us to evaluate the things that trigger us emotionally and therefore become more aware and in tune with how we can, could and will possibly react and feel in certain situations. By being open to taking the time to understand our thoughts and emotions in these situations, this practice can lead to the self-recognition and acceptance of how the same or similar situations may affect others, including those that may share a completely unique perspective.
~~~
Political civility is not about being polite to each other. It’s about reclaiming the power of ‘We the People’ to come together, debate the common good and call American democracy back to its highest values amid our differences.
Parker Palmer
~~~
A man is driving down the road and breaks down near a monastery. He goes to the monastery, knocks on the door, and says,”My car broke down. Do you think I could stay the night?” The monks graciously accept him, feed him dinner, even fix his car. As the man tries to fall asleep, he hears a strange sound. The next morning, he asks the monks what the sound was, but they say, “We can’t tell you. You’re not a monk.”
The man is disappointed but thanks them anyway and goes about his merry way. Some years later, the same man breaks down in front of the same monastery. The monks again accept him, feed him, even fix his car. That night, he hears the same strange noise that he had heard years earlier.
The next morning, he asks what it is, but the monks reply, “We can’t tell you. You’re not a monk.”
The man says, “All right, all right. I’m dying to know. If the only way I can find out what that sound was is to become a monk, how do I become a monk?”
The monks reply, “You must travel the earth and tell us how many blades of grass there are and the exact number of sand pebbles. When you find these numbers, you will become a monk.”
The man sets about his task. Forty-five years later, he returns and knocks on the door of the monastery. He says, “I have traveled the earth and have found what you have asked for. There are 145,236,284,232 blades of grass and 231,281,219,999,129,382 sand pebbles on the earth.”
The monks reply, “Congratulations. You are now a monk. We shall now show you the way to the sound.” The monks lead the man to a wooden door, where the head monk says, “The sound is right behind that door.”
The man reaches for the knob, but the door is locked. He says, “Real funny. May I have the key?”
The monks give him the key, and he opens the door. Behind the wooden door is another door made of stone. The man demands the key to the stone door. The monks give him the key, and he opens it, only to find a door made of ruby. He demands another key from the monks, who provide it. Behind that door is another door, this one made of sapphire. So it went until the man had gone through doors of emerald, silver, topaz, amethyst.
Finally, the monks say, “This is the last key to the last door.”
The man is relieved to no end. He unlocks the door, turns the knob, and behind that door he is amazed to find the source of that strange sound. But, of course. . . . I can’t tell you what it is because………you’re not a monk!!
~~~
“A study in the Washington Post says that women have better verbal skills than men. I just want to say to the authors of that study Huh?”
Conan O’Brien
~~~
A man received a phone call one day, and the caller asked if he had lost a parrot. He said that he had indeed lost the bird, but wanted to know how the caller located him.
The caller said that the bird had landed on his balcony and kept repeating, “Hi, you have reached 555-3214. I can’t come to the phone right now, please leave a message at the tone.”
~~~
“The limit of your present understanding is not the limit of your possibilities.”
Guy Finley
~~~
By chance, a man named John Smith witnessed a mugging. When the cops arrived, the officer in charge asked the witness his name.
“John Smith,” John told him.
“Cut the funny business. What’s your real name?”
“All right. Put me down as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.”
“That’s more like it. You can’t fool me with that John Smith stuff.”
~~~
A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down.
Arnold Glasow
~~~
“I’ve just had the most awful time. First, I got angina pectoris, then arteriosclerosis. Just as I was recovering, I got psoriasis. They gave me hypodermics and to top it all off, tonsillitis was followed by appendectomy.”
“Wow! How did you ever manage to pull through?”
“I don’t know. It was the toughest spelling test I ever had.”
~~~
Civility, politeness, it’s like a cement in a society: binds it together. And when we lose it, then I think we all feel lesser and slightly dirty because of it.
Jeremy Irons
~~~
Indianapolis, Indiana
Management is not responsible for duplicates from previous dailies. The editor is somewhat senile.
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Comments on: "We need each other" (1)
We do