“If we lose love and self-respect for each other, this is how we finally die.” ~Maya Angelou
“If we all do one random act of kindness daily, we just might set the world in the right direction.” ~Martin Kornfeld
Hi Diamond! This is a topic that needs addressing and I decided to use this platform for such a topic. If you have the sense that we’re living in a ruder, more hostile world, you’re not alone. There is literally an increase of rudeness, discourtesy, hatred, anger, solitude, and isolation happening within humanity today. Before the pandemic, we had many more opportunities to connect, build relationships, and get to know one another. I feel getting back together in person is vital. People skills and social skills are on the decline. In this hybrid world more and more people are experiencing an increase in loneliness and a sense of disconnection. It’s becoming harder to see the respect for the human race and mankind. It's a sign of our distress and an example of our suffering. We have all experienced social isolation, a loss of routine, systemic racism, classism, increased fear and prolonged uncertainty, grief and loss—even grieving the way things used to be. And when a person doesn’t know how to deal with their pain they will misdirect it towards others. And that equals pain, multiplied, and then it spews like a cancer throughout society. Life choices, what will you choose?
Society is Still Reeling to Recover
Some of it unquestionably is due to the COVID-19 pandemic stress; most people on the globe have been pushed past their limits at some point since 2020. Some may be due to the loss of people and social skills caused by the increased isolation we as a society experienced during the pandemic. But some of it, surely and undoubtedly, is due to the change that is more evident, now then ever before in our political and divided society. It appears evident that today’s political powers are increasingly invested in keeping people angry, fearful, afraid, and divided and have normalized new levels of violence and hatred. Isolation, loss of resources, the death of loved ones and reduced social support has compounded anger. Having an unprecedented global pandemic and a president who threw out normal rules of civility and gave people permission to be openly rude, all happening in parallel and simultaneously, has our society still reeling to recover. It seems as if many people are just waiting for an opportunity to express their pent-up rage from four years of that unprecedented president and two years of COVID. Life choices, what will you choose?
Being aware and the great awakening of realizing that these acts and emotions of hatred, anger, and bitterness are becoming normalized toward another person, here we can see the consequences of incivility: Eating away at mankind’s sanity, starving many of their well-being, causing an incline and increase of anxiety and/or depression, making people feel alone and separated in the world, increasing mental illness and violence, even suicide, and alienating people from peace and joy…the world did not give us joy and peace and humanity is allowing the world to take it from them.
There have always been and there will always be mean, rude, and disrespectful people. Some people feel this way due to loss, and others simply have a skewed perspective of the world that needs to be changed. Negative behaviors can spread easily and have significant consequences…Rude is contagious! But one emotion stands out above the rest and that is anger. Anger is a normal reaction to stress. “During COVID there has been an increase in anxiety, a reported increase in depression, and an increased demand for mental health services.” Lots of people, in other words, are on their very last nerve” says Bernard Golden, a psychologist and the author of Overcoming Destructive Anger.
Work to (Re)Build a Sense of Togetherness
The long separation has made social interactions tenser. And the aftershocks are deeply resentful human beings. So how do we respond to a world under stress, a society in which the politeness, courtesy and of so-called civility are gone? We have to give ourselves permission to feel our emotions, but we do not have the right to allow our emotions to rule us or make decisions for us. Respect and compassion holds humanity together. The choice is ours how we choose to show up. Now, more than ever, we must all work to (re)build a sense of togetherness. Remembering the Golden Rule – Treat others the way you want to be treated. We must each respect the other as we respect ourselves. We all have a choice to show respect, courtesy, and politeness toward our fellow neighbor. How are you making a better impact on the lives of people that cross paths with you? What would it look like to respond with kindness? Life choices, what will you choose?
Coaching Questions:
In what situations have you been responding with anger, frustration, or lack of forgiveness? How could you replace your negative attitudes with love and kindness?
How important is it to you to respect others and be respected?
What would it look like to respond with kindness?
Feel free to comment below on my blog, I would love to hear your thoughts on the rapid decline on respect and politeness and how you can make a difference.
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Best Wishes,
Tracy Diamond