In our stereotypical society today, there isn’t much peace around us. Turn one way, and massive shootings occur. Turn the other way and murders are occurring. So how did our society get from the very first uprising of mankind where people depended on one another to survive, to this society where people are literally killing one another for purposes that we do not know of? The differences lie in these two words: integrity and civility. However, before we broach that subject, let us first discuss why people are treating each other so brutally. Everyone has their own thoughts and own beliefs in what they all feel is “right”. When each individual cares only about what they are thinking, the world becomes a world of chaos. Some radical people in this age get outraged, pull triggers, and even commit terrible crimes If it weren’t for these two words, integrity and civility, our world wouldn’t be as strong anymore.. Though it might not always seem like it, as human beings, we truly depend on each other to survive.

Integrity and civility are both related to the creation of relationships. These relationships form special bonds between people, creating unimaginable effects. Ones with integrity have a trustworthy side, a side on which the society can rely on. Trustworthy friends that share a society build long lasting relationships that impact others and at the end, by association, the society as a whole. Where we have integrity, we have civility. When we remember the “peaceful society,” the main component that made it possible is the consideration people had for one another. People would help each other get the food to ensure communal survival . In other words, people treated each other with honor. Now that we have all that we ever imagined, technology, fast transport, easily accessible food, and more, it is hard to consideration is hard to show.

Take for example, a device almost everyone has in their pockets. Technology, as we call it. If another word could have been shared as two talk to each other, the connection is broken without feelings inputted in a text message. When our society started with collaboration amongst everyone, we had no technology. Messengers would be sent to carry letters back and forth by walking, giving a single mail envelope to someone beloved. What really is a real bond is when people give complete random acts of kindness. When people start doing kind things for each other than you expect to spread to our entire society, you might think, “2 people? How is that going to change a society?” These 2 people introduce each other to friends who introduce each other to other friends which then create a happy society.

However when people never care for those surrounding them, our society crumbles. That is when integrity and civility come in. Two happy young adults perhaps decide to get married. They have a happy life, create happy children, and strengthens the family. For generations to come, we see the whole line as the “happy family.” It might just seem like one line, but as this line extends, it can result in the whole happy society. Even if one genuinely cares for another, we can’t express that as well as talking face-to-face. Our politeness and our good manners with each other presents themselves through both our behaviour and our speech. Both integrity and civility play important roles in today’s society by creating the bonds that we must have.

<Jina Kang Walter Reed Middle School 7th Grade>