Civility or Just Being Nice

Patrick Swayze played a tougher than nails cooler in the movie Road House. Don't throw stones, you know you watched it at least the cleaned up version on TNT! One of his three rules was "Be Nice". It seems that that concept has been lost in our day. We are not as nice as we once were collectively. Most recently demonstrated on a huge stage by Kanye West's jumping on stage and interrupting Taylor Swifts moment last night at the awards show.
While his actions were rightly greeted by a chorus of "boos", he is only one example among many that I have witnessed over the last few weeks. There is the almost daily example of drivers who pay no attention to the right turn only lanes in Gainesville. There are the rude people who run the checkout lanes at our Wal-mart. Yep, I know at Wal-mart of all places. Then there are the photographers who clearly should know the rules of the field at Ben-Hill Griffin stadium, but still complain when they are asked to abide by the rules. It seems these days that rules are arbitrary in almost every arena of life.
Unless there is a moral obligation to not obey the rules, it provides a more civil society when we do. Many traffic jams are caused by people running the yellow if not the red lights and clogging up the intersections during rush hour or on the way home from the games. Our breaking the rule usually leads to someone else breaking them or getting mad at us because we broke the rule. And when someone breaks a rule that affects us, we get mad at them and respond in less than Christ glorifying ways. I just think the world would be a better place if we all tried to be a little more nice and civil to one another.
Maybe that's what Paul had in mind when he wrote, "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." Ephesians 4:32. Maybe someone should remind Kanye and the rest of us of the relevance of the scriptures. It would have made for a better ending of an awards show, maybe less of a buzz, but certainly less awkward for Taylor and Beyonce. And I believe it would make for a better world in which to live.