Commentary: Return to civility

My parents taught me to treat other people with dignity and respect no matter what. I took their lesson to heart. As written in Matthew 7:12, “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.” I want to live in a society that is built on the Golden Rule: Treat others as you would like to be treated. Considering the current state of affairs, I am not alone in saying we have lost our way. And I am worried.

I grew up on my family’s ranch and spent countless hours riding the ranch repairing fences, clearing land and managing the livestock. I also spent many hours napping under a tree when I was supposed to be working, but that is another story. I loved riding the ranch with my dad. And we always left out water and canned food at certain locations on the ranch — everyone did in those days. We knew that people were passing through who were not supposed to be there. But you do not let somebody die of starvation or dehydration when you can help. You treat people with dignity and respect, no matter what. The Golden Rule.

My mom was an elementary school teacher and eventually became one of the first bilingual educators in the state. When I was younger, I saw her pack extra food and even children’s clothing when she went to work. One day I asked her why and she told me some kids came to school hungry or without clothes to protect them in the winter, so she brought extra to give to them. My mom taught me that you do not look down on people who have less. You treat people with dignity and respect, no matter what. The Golden Rule.

I really miss my parents; my dad passed 28 years ago and my mom died shortly after. But I try to make them proud, and I hold the lessons they taught me close. It breaks my heart because I know they would be shocked if they saw how poorly people treat one another today, especially in politics and on social media, where we should be working to bring people together.

I used to like reading the newspaper every morning and evening because it was full of stories about Americans coming together, new inventions, and, for the older folks out there who remember, the TV guide. But now, the paper is full of stories about violence, greed and abuse of power. When I go on social media, it is full of people being rude, demeaning and harassing each other. What the heck is going on? When did we start treating each other with such animosity and disrespect? When did bullying, trolling, willingly spreading misinformation and abusing power become acceptable? We have allowed ourselves to be divided over purposefully polarizing issues, and in our crusades to be right we have stopped being civil. We have stopped living by the Golden Rule.

As a policymaker, I know my colleagues have different opinions. Sometimes we want the same things, but we have different ideas about how to get there. We always have to represent what the people in our district want, and often that puts us on opposite sides of a bill. During the 88th session, and many of the four special sessions, we debated private school vouchers a lot. A whole lot. I will never support vouchers and will always support adequately funding public schools. But the pro-voucher hardliners not only promoted a scheme to take away funding from public schools, they also singled out teachers as the only public employees not to get a pay raise.

I respect that some of my colleagues had different opinions. Historically, we might be voting differently on a bill, but we were civil to one another as people. But that was then. This is now, when even the Capitol is suffering from the decay of civility.

We can disagree, but we need to be honorable when we do it. We need to right this ship, return to civility, and remember whom we are here to represent. It will be hard because it will take courage, mindfulness and humility — skills that we no longer teach and therefore no longer know how to do. At the Capitol, civility means showing respect to members of the opposite party, even if the party bosses — or mega-donors — want you to go for the jugular. It means finding a compromise, where both your districts benefit and you both look good. Being civil means putting aside your pride and working together for the greater good.

I cannot imagine that anyone wants to get bullied, mocked or bamboozled. We need to return to treating others the way we want to be treated. We need to return to the Golden Rule.

I am in. Are you?

State Rep. R.D. “Bobby” Guerra, D-McAllen, represents Texas House District 41, which includes northern Hidalgo County.