“You are a %@*$^#% idiot!” Would you like someone to say derogatory, hurtful things like this to you? If not, it makes sense to not say things like this to anyone else.
Someone just stole your billfold. If this would make you mad, sad, and financially wounded, it makes sense to not steal anyone else’s billfold.
When, not having reached perfection yet, you make a mistake – perhaps even a serious one – and are forgiven, is not that a great feeling? That being the case, it makes sense to be forgiving of others’ mistakes.
The Golden Rule is the principle of treating others as one would wish to be treated. It is a maxim of altruism that is found in almost all religions and cultures.
- Tamil tradition: "Why does one hurt others knowing what it is to be hurt?"
- Babylonian Talmud: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow: this is the whole Torah.”
- Hinduism: “One should never do to another which one regards as injurious to one’s own self.”
- Buddhism: “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.”
- Christianity: “Do to others what you would want them to do to you.”
. . . and many, many more.
So why do so many people treat others in ways that they would never want to be treated themselves? Seeking answer to that question would keep a team of psychologists busy for years. The fact remains: it is up to me to organize my life and treat others in ways that build up rather than tear down; lead to constructive vs destructive consequences.
Bob Dylan put it this way in his song, Do Unto Others: “But if you do right to me baby / I'll do right to you too / Ya got to do unto others / Like you'd have them do unto you.” Nail on the head, Bobby! Now let’s do it.
