I live near the corner of a downtown street, and every night I hear the same thing: at least one car stopped at the red light blaring music loud enough to wake the dead.

I’ve been frustrated when I hold open doors for people who don’t say &8220; thank you.&8221;

I’ve sat outside the door of executive sessions and heard public officials yelling at each other inside the room. Worse, I know colleagues who have covered public meetings at which elected officials threw a few punches.

Every day, we see hundreds of examples of incivility, from small instances of impoliteness to much bigger cases that border on criminal.

But the small infractions lead to larger infractions.

If children see their parents throw a can from a car window, they believe it’s OK to litter.

If a driver gets fed up with too many aggressive maneuvers from a fellow motorist, he might go to extremes and chase him down.

Concordia Parish Sheriff Randy Maxwell said incivility has affected just about every aspect of society.

&8220;Nothing is sacred anymore,&8221; Maxwell said. &8220;The whole society has just turned more vicious.&8221;

He blames incivility on a lack of responsibility: &8220;Nothing is anybody’s fault,&8221; he said.

Maxwell said civility begins at home &045; and parents need to set the example for their children.

&8220;We do everything from cheat on tests to cheat on the ballfields,&8221; Maxwell said. &8220;I have parents buying their kids alcohol to celebrate graduation. What does that say to (the kids)?&8221;

Drinking alcohol when he was underage would have been a huge offense for Maxwell &045; not just if the police found out, but especially if his parents found out.

&8220;I promise you I would have felt it for weeks,&8221; he said.

Maxwell is right in that taking responsibility for one’s actions is becoming a rare occurrence these days.

For the next several days, we’ll be examining how civility &045; or the lack of it &045; has affected different aspects of society.

We’ve found some good news in all of our interviews. For the most part, it seems, Natchez and the Miss-Lou make up a fairly civil community.

We have no major incidents of road rage, for example. We have teachers who still enforce discipline in their classrooms, and we even have teachers who still teach proper manners and etiquette.

But the Webster’s definition of civility &045; &8220;politeness and courtesy&8221; &045; should be just the tip of the iceberg for how we treat each other.

Civility in our community &045; especially as we welcome tourists on a daily basis and look to attract new industries &045; should mean treating each other and everyone we meet with respect.

It should mean treating everyone fairly, regardless of race or religion or background.

It should mean keeping things clean, keeping noise levels down, obeying laws and law enforcement officers.

And, as Maxwell said, it should mean taking responsibility for ourselves.

No one is perfect, but it would be nice just to hear that &8220;thank you&8221; every time. It would be a good start.

Kerry Whipple

is editor of The Natchez Democrat. She can be reached at 604-445-3541 or by e-mail at kerry.whipple@

natchezdemocrat.com.