ON CIVILITY Restorative Reflections: Where has all the civility gone? A collection of poetry that takes us on a treasure hunt to restore the concept of civility.

This collection of poetry centers on my reflections of the concepts surrounding civility and writing the poems has been restorative to me and to my understanding of this ancient concept.Beginning with the traditional notion of manners and politeness (George Washington Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior 1744) and continuing to the more subtle concepts of compassion dignity human value human worth forgiveness and self-dignity this collection is an attempt to understand and explain a concept that has varied over time and through different cultures. The concept is often connected with civilization and civil because they share the same root word but civility is more active more basic and more personal. Being civil to one another is much more active and positive a good than mere politeness or courtesy(Robert B. Pippin The Persistence of Subjectivity 2005). In order to fully comprehend civility one must reevaluate the status quo and build on the ancient principles of the interdependence of human beings (Dalai Lama Beyond Religion 2011). Civility is therefore interconnected with compassion justice and humanity. An important research question when contemplating civility is When did human life become disposable and can we reverse that belief? As much as civility is typically associated with qualities such as politeness and the display of good manners for contemporary social and political theorists it has increasingly come to represent civic virtues such as tolerance non- discrimination and public reasonableness.Civility is therefore more than good manners (Melanie White An Ambivalent Civility Canadian Journal of Sociology 2006).