Lions

One would be hard-pressed to identify a more majestic looking animal than the lion. The fact it is called "the king of  beasts" speaks for itself. A world in which these creatures did not exist is  something I do not believe any of us want. Yet, according to recent news reports, this seems to be the direction in which we and lions are heading. There are reportedly less than 50,000 African lions currently alive, a total that has dropped by well over 50 percent in recent times. If nothing changes, it does not take much of an imagination to predict the future of this creature. While I understand the danger of being too close to a lion, I believe they are worth protecting.

Lions, of course, are far from the only entity that needs safeguarding. Another is civility. As defined in The American Heritage Dictionary, civility is "a courteous act or utterance." From a communication perspective, it is essential we do all we can to ensure this remains in-tact. Sure, even without it, communication will continue. That will never stop. But the difference - and this is a big one - is communication in its best form will cease to exist. Civility ensures mutual respect, good manners and helps maintain two-way communication. While interaction will continue, the lack of civility will in all likelihood mean it will be fraught with conflict, less smooth and far less amiable. Thus, positive results will be harder to come by.

Effective communication is challenging enough without participants doing all they can to be respectful, open-minded and polite. Take those elements out of the mix and what you have are people talking at each other, talking over each other, and demonstrating little interest in civil resolution. In other words, you have far too many of today's cable news shows. In its own way, civility is as majestic as the lion. I, for one, do not want a world without those creatures than I do without civility. Should either become extinct, we will be the far lesser for it.