Victimless Incivility

 

Today I have another new word – actually, a two-word phrase: Victimless Incivility.  Victimless incivility is manifested in many ways, many times a day.  In the office, when you use the last sheet of copy paper and don’t refill the tray.  That’s just plain rude to someone who uses the printer next.  Or when you get the last cup of coffee and don’t start another pot.  Or when you toss that wad of paper into the trash can … but don’t quite make your shot … and then you don’t pick up your wad of paper.  Or on the construction site when you pull that board off the wall, throw it down, and leave those nails sticking out of the board pointing up.  Take the time to pull them out or at least bend them over.  Don’t leave those rattlesnakes on the ground for someone to step on.  Or in the Walmart parking lot take up two spaces.  Or put that wobbly-wheeled cart back in the line for the next person to get.  The problem with victimless incivility is that it does have a victim … you just never see the victim, so you feel insulated from the harm that you do to the victim.  Hey, remember the Golden Rule found in Luke 6:31, “And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.”  Now that you know what it is, don’t be guilty of Victimless Incivility.  Think of others today.