SHARED EXPERIENCES OF CIVILITY WILL BRING EVERYONE TOGETHER
Today’s society is an extremely busy and complicated place. For example, in many workplaces there are four generations working together and the habits and attitudes that define each generation, resulting in generational challenges that many organizations are not equipped to manage.
In Canada multi-culturalism is at an all time high. One in every five individuals speaks a language other than English or French, according to Statistics Canada’s report Linguistic Characteristics of Canadians released on October 24, 2102. Thismeans that anywhere and everywhere around us are different views and values that can set us apart, if we let them.
Civility Experts Worldwide believes that is civility that enables us to embrace and respect our differences and that the qualities of civility are understood and experienced by people of all walks of life. Civility goes deeper than the language one speaks and the age on a birth certificate.
Many ancient civilizations passed knowledge of kindness, restraint, respect, generosity, and responsibility through generations by drawing pictures on walls or telling stories in community settings. Today’s generations, however share quick little statements and tidbits about experiences through status updates on Facebook or Tweets on Twitter. Experts wonder, how deeply can we share experiences of civility in 140 characters or less? And is it the nature and mode of the sharing that is dividing us, more so than perceived cultural and generational differences?
“Stories of civility, of people at their best, deserve more than 140 characters,” says Sharmila Vijayann, training and development specialist, Civility Experts
Worldwide. “We are constantly hearing about people at their worst, in the newspapers, on television and now online. It is time to highlight civility!”
Professional public speakers know that the best way to get a message through to their audiences is to weave the message through a story, a gripping, compelling story. People remember facts, statistics, and messages clearer and more accurately when they have a context to remember it by.
A random act of kindness is a wonderful thing but if it is shared in 140 characters or less the meaning of the act will definitely get missed and most likely will not be remembered. But if the who, what, where, why, and when are conveyed, along with the emotion that is felt, that story will have wings. That story will travel and touch many and through the story a deeper understanding of human-kind will emerge.
Civility Experts Worldwide is hosting a civility stories contest, looking for stories from the workplace, the home, from the community, that include friends, family and strangers – basically stories of kindness, courtesy, and generosity from anywhere and about anyone. It’s these meaningful exchanges and human experiences and the sharing itself that brings people together. Civility stories should be captured in words and pictures, and then shared and celebrated. If even one person is inspired, learns something, is encouraged, or begins to think differently, the world is already a little bit better place.
Civility Stories should be submitted to Sharmila Vijayan at sharmila.r.vijayan@gmail.com and the results of the contest will be announced on January 15, 2013.
