Take the Social Media Pledge?

     More than 100 years ago, folks in my Colorado community with their new-fangled telephones forgot that words matter, wherever they’re spoken. Others gently reminded them about the Golden Rule - to treat others as you want them to treat you.      
     This concept dates back thousands of years and can be found in nearly every ethical tradition. It hasn’t gone out of style either. One hundred forty-three leaders representing the world’s major faiths endorsed the Golden Rule in the 1993 Declaration Toward a Global Ethic.     
     Wouldn’t it be pleasant if today’s politicians took this pledge to follow the Golden Rule? No more snark. No more smears.      
     Even if politicians don’t make this pledge, “we, the people” can. Imagine this: social media would be sociable again. We’d vow not to spread posts that are supposedly “just in fun,” but are actually demeaning.     
​     That would be one way to put “civil” back into our “civilization.”
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