The days of wine and roses
\nseem a lifetime far away
\nWhile posturing and poses
\nare the order of the day<\/p>\n
Good graces and decorum
\ndon\u2019t define the way we act
\nEvery evil has its forum
\naccusation equals fact<\/p>\n
Restraint and apt humility
\nare valued here no more
\nAttacks and rank hostility
\nis that what we\u2019ve in store?<\/p>\n
Perhaps it\u2019s just an apogee
\nthe end point of a swing
\nIts opposite we\u2019re soon to see
\nif physics does its thing<\/p>\n
Civility by pendulum?
\nwe must do more than hope
\nThe change is what you must become
\nto move the swinging rope<\/p>\n
\u201cA divided electorate,\u201d \u201cno dialogue between sides,\u201d\u00a0calls for violence and talk of civil war\u2014is this what society has become?<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve often read about all sorts of \u201cbacklash\u201d when it comes to public sentiment or behavior on political and social issues. Typically, whenever a progressive change takes place for instance, (e.g. in the form of a downward change in status or wealth, real or perceived), those affected by this change will often \u201cpush back\u201d in the opposite direction as a way of reestablishing the status quo.<\/p>\n
Entropy theory aside for a moment, what if the situation we are experiencing now is not evidence of irreversible societal decay doomed to unchecked expansion? What if the\u00a0behavior we are witnessing and experiencing is simply the apogee of a pendulum swing? What if the next phase is not expansion\u2014with things getting worse\u2014but, instead a swing in the opposite direction?<\/p>\n
What if \u201cold time\u201d behaviors (like civil discourse, respect, empathy) are due for a resurgence? Wouldn\u2019t it be thrilling to experience a backlash of civility? What\u2019s needed, however, is not simply optimism, but action as Gandhi reportedly said: \u201cBecome the change you wish to see.\u201d Don\u2019t wait for the backlash, become the backlash in civility!<\/p>\n
Walt F.J. Goodridge (Special to the Saipan Tribune)<\/strong> The days of wine and roses seem a lifetime far away While posturing and poses…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":331241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-333296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nSaipan resident Walt F.J. Goodridge is author of over 400 \u201clife rhymes\u201d and over two dozen books including\u00a0Turn Your Passion into Profit\u00a0and\u00a0The Tao of Wow.\u00a0Learn more at\u00a0www.liferhymes.com\u00a0and\u00a0www.waltgoodridge.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"