Earlier this week, along with over 30 million other viewers, I watched President Obama’s heartfelt speech at the memorial for the Tucson shooting victims. Like his predecessors after similar national tragedies, The President of the United States called on us all, as Americans, to make a change for the better.

But will we?

We’ve been down many similar roads and seemed to have failed and went back to our old ways.

Remember 9/11? Of course, you do. You probably even remember exactly where you were when you heard the news. I know I do. I was living in Washington, DC, and on that fateful day, working on the top floor of a building just 2 blocks away from the White House. I can still remember looking out the window, after hearing the news, and seeing people running from that iconic building.

So, I am sure that you also remember the days, and even weeks after that tragic day, when everyone was just a little nicer to everyone else. People, who normally greeted you with a scowl, smiled. But after awhile we all went back to our old ways.

Then, remember just two years ago, I questioned whether we had reached the end of diversity training? Well, I can safely say that we have received no shortage of requests for diversity training. In fact, the inquiries have increased substantially since then.

So what will it take for us to be truly civil and respectful to one another in the long run?

I’ll leave you with a suggestion from the president’s speech:

We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another, that’s entirely up to us. And I believe that for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us.