Technology has forever altered personal communication. We have more of it in less personal ways. The style, speed and reach have changed and with these advances we have lost a required formula for quality of life: Civility. One recent report concluded that "bad" behavior may be the "new normal".

Civility is much more than being polite. The word comes from the latin which translates "good citizen". Civility promotes respectfulness in our communities and is the glue that holds our society together and in extreme cases can be the difference between life and death. One example is the killings which happen when someone goes "postal", or when a health care professional gets upset with a co-worker and makes a mistake with a patient which costs a life. These are indeed extreme examples, yet they happen on a fairly regular basis (if we are to believe the news reports). Civility is an essential component to our human sustainability.

Rudeness is catching just like the flu. It makes society sad and sick just like a disease does to the human body. The collected "body of mankind" is not usually defined by the everyday treatment of others. The Nazi movement came about due to the idea that some humans did not deserve respect and were inferior to other humans. Slavery too, and other examples, promoted this idea. However, where does such an idea start? With each person!!! It is not OK to be disrespectful to another of God's creatures. Anytime disrespect becomes "normal", society and mankind as a whole suffer.