Knowledge is Power, Character is More
In his commencement address to Suffolk University, journalist Ted Koppel challenged the audience to consider the aspect of common courtesy.
“I realize how quaint, even archaic it must seem to some of you to place emphasis on good manners and civility in times as difficult and troubled as our own. Nor do I mean to offer myself up as a positive example. … But the absence of good manners and civility in our daily communion with one another is evidence of a great deal that is wrong with our society. We are undergoing something of a national nervous breakdown. We seek to intimidate rather than communicate.”
“The law is what we turn to when civility breaks down. When we ignore good taste, when we start being rude to one another, when we keep stretching the envelope of acceptable behavior, then ultimately we are obliged to turn to litigation, to the hired enforcers of the law to resolve our differences. …”
“As general civility diminishes in our culture, we become more dependent on the law. … We need a simpler code, something that will get us through the normal days and nights of our existence. We need good manners.”
“It seems archaic when a member of Congress asks whether the gentle lady from Maryland will yield the floor, and yet it is more than a quaint custom. It is a courtesy, which is in itself an acknowledgment of legitimacy. We should treat one another with courtesy and respect, regardless of race or gender, creed or economic standing, not because the law or even the self-appointed enforcers of political correctness demand it, but because it is illogical and even self-destructive to do otherwise.”
“Unless and until we perceive civility to be in our common interest, our national pendulum will swing wildly between anarchy and authoritarianism. … I know we can’t dispense with our intricate fabric of laws. But think how many of those laws would become irrelevant if we merely treated one another with common courtesy. What I find so appealing about that notion, and the reason that I offer it to you on this important occasion in your lives, is that it lies within the capacity of each of one us to implement it.” (bold emphasis added)
On the same day I read Mr. Koppel’s speech I received a Twitter message directing me to a story on Chris Brogan’s blog. I will let you read the story for its richness. I’ll only say relationships matter.
Title Credit: Credo of Royal Dutch Navy Academy
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