By Michael Patrick O’Brien–
In his 2018 New Year’s Eve homily, Pope Francis said those with the most influence in society are not our national leaders constantly engaged in power struggles and partisan bickering, but all of us, the everyday people who through normal routine gestures of kindness in public places create a positive civic culture. The Pope called us the “artisans of the common good.”
Francis drove his point home, almost literally, with a reference to driving, praising people who “move in traffic with good sense and prudence.” New York Times columnist David Brooks immediately jumped on the bandwagon—I mean the SUV— by noting “driving is the sort of everyday activity through which people mold the culture of their community.” Brooks explained, “If you speed up so I can’t merge into your lane, you’re teaching me that the society around here is basically competitive, not cooperative.”
When I read the words of the pontiff and the pundit, I remembered my own dear wife Vicki’s admonitions about my own Jekyll and Hyde approach to driving. On more than one occasion, she has asked me how her kind and gentle husband, someone with few ill words for anyone, can morph into an F-bomb dropping Indy 500 wannabe when he gets on the freeway. I have not yet provided a good answer.
I could blame the aggressively competitive lawyer in me, but the Utah State Bar might be listening. A few years ago the Bar gave its own admonition to my brother/sister lawyers and me by issuing the Standards of Professionalism and Civility. The preamble to the Standards states, “A lawyer’s conduct should be characterized at all times by personal courtesy and professional integrity in the fullest sense of those terms.” We lawyers are asked not to reflect the ill-will our clients may have for their adversaries but instead to tell our clients that civility, courtesy, and fair dealing are expected.
So it seems the reminders flow freely, both at work and at home (and while in transit in between). Brooks says driving puts you “into social situations where you have to co-construct a shared culture of civility, and go against your own primeval selfishness, and it does so while you are encased in what potentially is a 4,000 pound metal weapon.” The Utah State Bar explains: “Conduct that may be characterized as uncivil, abrasive, abusive, hostile, or obstructive impedes the fundamental goal of resolving disputes rationally, peacefully, and efficiently. Such conduct tends to delay and often to deny justice.” The Pope just asks me to follow the Golden Rule.
I welcome the reminders, despite my sometimes less-than-grateful demeanor when I get them. Obviously, I need the reminders too. I really like the idea of being an artisan of the common good, but I hope it’s OK if I try to do it better and faster than anyone else too.
