I listened to a very good speech at toastmasters on civility. Here are my notes.

This speech had some good content. Any misinformation is the fault of the note taker.

• Speaker married his wife in Vegas. We were excited.
• Eleven days alter we were anxious. We did not see a bright future. The future looked bleak why? It was eleven days after our marriage the LA riots broke out. People started looting, shooting at helicopters. And shooting at the media. Rioters were gabbing people out of their cars and beating them. One truck driver got pulled out of his truck and was severely beaten. When he became conscious and someone threw a brick to the back of his head.
• The governor activated the National Guard. The speaker was a member of the National Guard. His wife was worried for his safety and didn’t want him to go. He had to go. After two weeks, the National Guard was released and riots were over. The results of the riot was, sixty-three lives were lost. Twelve thousand people were arrested and there was $1 billion in damages.
• You can call that civil unrest or civil disturbance it was anything but civil.
• We have uncivil behavior around us even online. Trolls are feeding such behavior on social media. Violence is planned as part of peaceful protests. What has our world come to?
• There is a lot of footage about riots. You may think that civility is dead or if not, it’s on life support.
• I think we can reinstate civility. We can learn to be responsible with our behavior.

SIT with civility

• S for Safety; civilly comes as a question. Can I trust you to keep me safe by not attacking, threatening, or intimidating me? That is the foundation of civility
• I for Innocence: Can I trust you to protect innocence by not swearing, being vulgar or offensive? There used to be people who would not be offensive around children, mothers, or clergy. People showed respect for these groups of people. Respect was shown by controlling their tongue. We can control our tongue by language and protect innocence.
• T for tolerance: Are we tolerant in our discussions? Can I trust you to be tolerant by not name calling, belittling, or walking away from the discussion. If I have a different opinion. Or you going to walk away or call your opponents names. We don’t need to be this way. We can respect each other. we can keep discussion flowing forward by listening and being listened to.
• Use of these three levels can bring back civility.