In 1992, Rodney King posed this simple question: Can we all get along? The police officers who had beaten him had just been acquitted and the streets of Los Angeles had erupted in riots lasting five days. In the end over 60 people were dead and one thousand buildings destroyed. His call for peaceful coexistence would follow him for the rest of his life. When he died, “Can We All Get Along” was placed on his tombstone.
As a teenager in colonial America, George Washington wrote out 110 precepts for his Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation. Abraham Lincoln has provided a model for civility as he faced the polarization of our country in 1860. There has been an evolution in our country as to what constitutes civility. How shall we define it? What can we learn from the past? Are there rules of civility that can work in our day? What resources are available within our own UU tradition?
Reverend Karl Brown is an ordained United Methodist minister, former Director of the CCC (now UCM-Wesley), and has been a part-time minister for SMUUF for over 30 years. In addition, his wife Karen is a SMUUF member. We view Karl as kind of a “father” of SMUUF (he suggests “grandfather”) and are always glad to see him back in our pulpit. Long may he serve!
San Marcos Unitarian Universalist Fellowship 