The vets are forever young who died at Pearl Harbor. Ohio Supreme Court Justice Thomas Moyer say last week that the decline in civility is the major tear in the social fabric in America today. I think he's on to something. If something is in decline, it's that we live in a culture where fewer citizens speak with civility and act with common decency. In beautiful places like Columbine High School in Colorado and Pearl, Miss., a few of our alienated children use guns to destroy social control.
Civility is what makes America the dreamland of the world.
We lack a true sense of community. My father walked the streets of great American cities in the 1940s wearing a sailor's uniform. He felt safe. I can't walk the streets of medium-sized Ohio cities with the same confidence. I'm a big fan of civility.