Jake Allen | Indianapolis Star See original post here.   Since Carmel’s last city council and mayoral elections in 2023, City Councilor...

In an age where we can communicate from a distance, it’s easy to feel shielded from the real-world impact of our words and behaviors. The digital screen or the comfort of a like-minded group can lead us to believe we are immune to the hurt we cause and the damage we inflict.

Civility isn’t about watering down our beliefs. It’s about honoring someone else’s humanity while holding our own.

Let’s listen fiercely, speak kindly, and act with purpose. It won’t always be easy. But then again, the best things rarely are.

Civility is a popular word these days. We post it. We pledge it. We proudly say, “That’s who I am.” But civility doesn’t live in the declaration. It lives in the doing.

This quiet isn’t peace. It’s numbness. And numbness is fertile soil for normalization.

When we stop assuming good intentions, it becomes easier to label people, shut them out and retreat to our own corners.

Civility demands that we truly listen to one another, even when the message is difficult to hear.

In a world brimming with conflicting opinions, exaggerated claims and shifting narratives, a bit of skepticism is not only useful — it’s necessary.

Civility is the real challenge.

Somewhere along the way, we started treating disagreement like a high-stakes competition — a battle to be won rather than an opportunity to engage.

The image of Elizabeth Eckford, alone yet resolute, walking through a sea of hostility in 1957 remains one of the most powerful moments in American history.

In a world that often feels divided, one of the greatest challenges we face is how to treat people we don’t understand.

When a disagreement turns into a dialogue, everyone benefits. Understanding doesn’t require agreement, just a willingness to listen.

Disagreements are as inevitable as change, yet the real challenge lies in how we navigate them.

Victory can be sweet, but the measure of true leadership is how we handle not only our wins, but also the losses of those we once opposed.

Hyper-partisanship is about extreme loyalty or adherence to a specific group, ideology or viewpoint at the expense of open-mindedness and collaboration. It’s this troubling trend that compels me to write about its impact on civility and our community.

A recent Pew Research Center study reveals a sobering statistic: half of Americans believe that people have become ruder since the pandemic began.

Speaking the truth gently is a cornerstone of building respectful and harmonious relationships.

At the heart of this movement lies an essential value: authenticity.