Respect and Civility
If you fly regularly, it is likely you have seen some sort of altercation on board. And, if you haven’t YouTube affords plenty of opportunities (obviously I amuse easily) to view people being everything from silly to reckless.
In some cases, it escalates to the point of a flight being turned around and the belligerent being removed by law enforcement. In others we see outbursts of churlishness whimpering into disgruntled mutterings. Either way it is an unpleasant atmosphere for the rest of the passengers, unnerving and upsetting for some – flying is already a challenge to them.
Whether these behaviours are more common than ten plus years ago may be difficult to prove but it certainly appears that way. People videoing others acting aggressively has become more common. This points to a similar issue; in that we were less likely to be so intrusive because we didn’t have the facilities to be so – no phone cameras until approx. 2000. Without cameras we couldn’t film follies, but we would have if they were available – pointing to the problem being human rather than technological. We delight in filming the bad behaviour of others.
On flights most people are slightly anxious anyway – meltdowns at check in testify to this; you don’t tend to see the same in a doctor’s waiting room or supermarket checkouts. But we have lived with airport anxiety for decades, whereas outbursts, profanity, and violence are relatively new to flying. We have watched people demand their rights when they have clearly violated someone else’s (taking seats not assigned), others insisting on their safety when they have made the flight unsafe for everyone else. And on …
Are people simply more assertive, knowing and demanding rights? Possibly? Although, this hardly validates bad behaviour.
Is entitlement part of the mix? Likely?
Are we doing inventories of the corelation of family breakdown, moral malaise, and an education system that often fails to educate (except that it empowers people to have opinions)? Probably not.
Is bad behaviour and bad temper the result of what goes before - a meltdown of morality, respect and civility. I suspect so.
If we are taught of our own importance, then we can only expect to see this sort of behaviour increase. This is the inverse of what Paul said to the Christians in Philippi – “regard others as more important than yourselves.” If we live thinking of others and their wellbeing handcuffs and crash-tackling may disappear from cabins - less drama, more peace.
However, whilst many, if not most, Christians will agree with these sentiments, we do much the same. Our lack of civility and respect is as bad, if not more so, than the world’s. Losing your temper on a plane isn’t wise – you may end up in a cell (certainly not for your witness) – but posting sanitized expletives about a Prime Minister or President is worse. We should take for granted they aren’t Christlike (rare exceptions notwithstanding), nor are they likely to harbingers of God’s kingdom. In other words, why are we surprised? Why the necessity of pointing out the obvious?
The public rants of Christian leaders against those in power is something else. Were the apostles Paul and John to read their posts and listen to their preaching, done in Jesus’ name, they would likely suffer severe consternation. Core to Christlikeness is civility – the attitude of kindness, discretion, and servanthood. We may disagree, strongly, with certain people in power (I do) but Jesus has not taught us to show disrespect, to be uncivil, by employing invective as a right. We gave up the insistent of our rights at the cross; it was traded for prayer, being slow to speak and quick to hear, and taking upon us the attitude and nature of the crucified one. The kingdom of God is not another, even if better, version of this world. It is remarkably and troublingly different, powered by sacrificial love, not force or violence.
We have been encroached on by this world when we fail to “honour the king” and “pray for those in authority”. I may dislike, disagree with, even despise, a person in power but my response is to be none of those things. Cursing our government is to despise God. How so? If we believe God superintends the operations of this world, its rulers and authorities, we must face the uncomfortable fact that God raises and deposes as he will – in concert with his will and the co-operative prayers of his people – particularly the Lord’s Prayer, “Your will be done on earth as in heaven.”
This is not a call to Christian passivity in the face of injustice but a reminder of how we go about that task - with what spirit, and with whose resources? Ranting against our leaders is biblically short sighted and entrenches an attitude of disrespect in God’s church.
Respect is an all but forgotten virtue. Certain professions, and for good reasons, were once highly respected – teachers, the police, ministers, etc. Today teachers, in some cases, are beaten up, spat upon and yelled down in class. The police are caught between people disrespecting and vilifying them, and protecting the same people when they need the police. Ministers once held high respect in communities. I am not being ostrich-like when I say these things as all these professions have rightly faced their day of reckoning, but that doesn’t give us the right, nor is it necessary, to treat one as all. The mandate of respect towards certain people and bodies hasn’t died with their dereliction of duty.
Love your neighbour.
Pray for those in authority.
Honour the King.
Serve the Lord.
Respect.