Many of us feel that the level of civility in our society has degraded, and fear that it will degrade further in the Age of Trump.  Each of us has only limited power to change that, but we are morally obligated to exercise that power – especially when it feels most hopeless.  I don’t by any means minimize the potential dangers of the next four years. But start with yourself.  Start with what you can control. Here’s something really simple that you can do to ever-so-slightly raise the level of civility in our society:  be a courteous driver.  Just try it for a week.

• Let someone into traffic in front of you.
• Smile, wave, or flick your lights to thank the person who let you into traffic.
• Stop when you see the light is turning yellow, instead of speeding through it.
• You don’t have to lay on your horn if the light has turned green and the person in front of you is sitting there talking on their phone or staring off into space.  Just tap your horn; that will do.
• OK, this one is a little hard:  when another driver does something stupid, don’t swear at them, even under your breath.  Just let it go.  They’re trying to get somewhere, same as you.  They have distractions, same as you. They are imperfect and make mistakes, same as you.  Take a deep breath.  Let it go.

See how much better you feel at the end of the week.  Let me know.