Recently, I attended a lecture on workplace ethics. I was expecting an engaging discussion of patient rights, social justice, and worker rights. Instead, the lecturer stated that each time he discussed ethical practice over the past few years, someone in the audience inevitably wrote a scathing letter of complaint against him to his supervisor. In each letter, the author complained in such a way that the lecturer (and his supervisor) was led to believe that the issues he discussed, which were not inherently controversial, touched a nerve. As such, in an effort to be politically correct, the lecturer focused on civility and how that has been lost throughout our society, including in the workplace. He was concerned more than ever with the diminishing level of civility and civil discourse that has woven its way throughout society and our lives. One of the challenges in discussing ethical practice is that it can have different meanings and different definitions among clinicians and patients. In the book Choosing Civility by P. M. Forni (2002), civility and ethics are directly linked. Dr. Forni asserts that "a crucial measure of our success in life is the way we treat one another every day of our lives" (p. 4). He acknowledges that the essence of civility is awareness that what we say and do affects others. Civility requires respect, restraint, and responsibility and is manifested through our manners, acts of etiquette, and behaviors with others. Civility is about the cultivation of honesty, fairness, self-control, and prudence that can help each of us and society reach our potential. Without civility, we cannot act ethically. Fundamentally, ethics relates to the philosophy behind a moral outcome and addresses how we treat each other. Our acts of civility or incivility constitute the center of morality. The hallmarks of ethical behavior are trust, integrity, respect, transparency, honesty, and responsibility. When there are acts of unprofessional behavior, disrespect, and retaliation, we can often readily recognize unethical behavior and realize that our society and workplace lack the decency and the moral standing that holds society together, and that we at our core want to have. Through self-evaluation, we can decide that we will behave and act ethically. We can be resolute about our decisions, but the continual influx of "grey areas" of decisions and situations throughout our lives challenge our resolve. All too often, there are opportunities to yield to pressure from others and breach our ethics and our integrity. …