I’ve been a fan of Stephen L. Carter, Yale Professor, author, columnist, for a long time. Out of pure luck his column titled Depressed by politics? Put down the phone. was in today’s Charlotte Observer.
If you want to read the whole column just click on the link and I will probably discuss the politics part in today’s post at Webb Hubbell Unfiltered.
But this is this morning’s meditation and so I highlight a small portion of his column.
He says that he defines civility in one of his books “as the sum of the sacrifices we make for the sake of living together.”
Then he goes on to say “if we expect better from our officeholders…we have to demand better from ourselves.”
Finally he pinpoints the devil and suggests that we lift our noses away from our cellphones and say hello to someone on the street or at a minimum enjoy the view.
When we look into the eyes of a stranger and say hello, when we take a moment on the way into the office to admire the blooming flowers, we take that wonderful first step away from self and toward a broader and more expansive view of the world.
Maybe, just maybe, a connected society is not so connected after all, and in order to connect, we must disconnect from time to time.
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