Let’s hope this one’s a trend — that spreads to the media and society as a whole.
Rutgers University in New Jersey (that’s right, home of The Sopranos and Snooky) is launching a two-year project aimed at promoting civility. With so much out there promoting the opposite, it’s a contrarian idea that may just catch on.
It’s called, simply enough, Project Civility and it will feature lectures and other programs aimed at helping students discover the joys and benefits of simply being nice to other people. The idea apparently being, and I believe it, that people who are nice to other people tend to be happier than the snippy, the snarky and the nasty.
The project will begin with a presentation by P,M. Forni, founder of The Civility Institute at Johns Hopkins University based on his book Choosing Civility: The Twenty-Five Rules of Considerate Conduct.
Quickly they include:
- Pay attention
- Acknowledge others
- Think the best
- Listen
- Be inclusive
- Speak kindly
- Don’t speak ill
- Accept and give praise
- Respect even a subtle “no”
- Respect others’ opinions
- Mind your body
- Be agreeable
- Keep it down (and rediscover silence)
- Respect other people’s time
- Respect other people’s space
- Apologize earnestly
- Assert yourself
- Avoid personal questions
- Care for your guests
- Be a considerate guest
- Think twice before asking for favors
- Refrain from idle complaints
- Accept and give constructive criticism
- Respect the environment and be gentle
- Don’t shift responsibility and blame
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