A loss of civility

The kind of abusive behavior of people we witness during the meetings of the Public Health Board across the nation is emblematic of the loss of decency and civility that we witness at all levels of American society. Loss of civility is the first sign of the degradation of a nation.

Shortly after Donald Trump was elected as president, I noticed a drastic change in people's behavior toward me, a naturalized brown-skinned immigrant from India. For 47 years before 2016, I felt like I was very much part of this society. After Trump, I could hardly believe that this was the same country I came to admire for so many years.

A few years before Trump became president, a local businessman did a great job in installing a certain material in my house. Shortly after Trump became president, I went to his shop to purchase some additional material for my house. As I entered the shop, he looked down at a book. As I approached the counter, without lifting his head he asked, "Yes?" He was completely indifferent to me the rest of the time I was there. It became obvious to me that he did not want me in his shop.

Obviously, I was witnessing the "Trump effect." This was how Jews felt in Germany after Hitler came to power. There is an old saying, "Like the king, like the people." Bad leaders appeal to the worst impulses of people. The result: abusive and uncivil behavior.

K.P.S. KAMATH, Cape Girardeau