Just writing the word "civility" gives me a jolt. Why should we stop and focus on what seems like an almost archaic word?

Because we need to.

We need to think about what common civility means. To find out if we are being civil, we need to examine our own communications, our own behaviors, our own thoughts.

Does this shock us? The need to look inward at our least attractive moments, and align them with basic civility should not be necessary. It should be automatic.

We've seen Texans exhibit more than civility - old fashioned neighborliness - in the midst of a landmark tragedy. It gave me, gives me, hope. When people can lose everything but their own lives and take time to rescue strangers, I feel hope. I feel pride in my countrymen.



The best of Americans showed up in helping their fellow countrymen in the middle of a disaster; these sons and daughters of pioneers.

None of us know when an act of nature might call on us to do the same: to be civil, and more than civil; to be courageous and caring.

We can start with examining our own civility today; examining what we say and what we do, regardless of what others say and do- regardless of circumstances and "the right to."

Who knows where being civil will lead? Perhaps where we have just seen it go: to courage and caring. In the land of the free and the home of the brave.