The Golden Rule

The Golden Rule, we all know it, we have all heard it.  Our parents drilled it into our consciousness and we have reiterated it to our children.   “You only treat people the way that you want to be treated.”   Or “Do unto others as they do unto you.”  Either version conveys the same message.  If you don’t want to be treated badly, gossiped about, or bullied, don’t do it to another human being.

 Our schools now have regimented anti bullying campaigns. There have been too many stories in the news about young people who were abused and bullied.  It may occur face to face or through cyber space.  Sadly, too many of these accounts have ended tragically.  The truth is if people lived by the Golden Rule these incidents would not have occurred.  Who would willingly subject themselves to humiliation, verbal abuse or physical attacks?  It is true; simply treat other as you want to be treated!

  With all of this emphasis on eradicating bullying and gossiping why would the current leader of this Nation and a potential leader of our Nation openly and deliberately exhibit the behavior that we are telling our children NOT to do?

  Currently it is election season.  On this year’s calendar is a big one, the Presidential vote. During this campaign season, like so many before, we have been openly witnessing two men who are treating one another badly.  There is name calling, twisting of words, and misrepresentation of facts not to mention the skewed visual depictions on television and print advertisements.

 I am not one to air my political views.  It is not part of my DNA.  Some people take to the election season like it is a sporting event.  Key players are evaluated, opponents are studied and strategies are formulated. Any way to discredit the opponent is revered.  These past few months interested and passionate Americans have held countless discussions and debates around office water coolers, at family gatherings and on the sidelines and in the stands of our children’s sporting events. Opposing sides have clashed and the misrepresentations voiced from the media are repeated. For good measure the storyteller’s version of the truth is added to the tale and it is embellished. 

  With the advent of social media folks have added another venue in which to “share” their thoughts about either candidate or political party.  For the most part I ignore these posts. But now people  have a place where they can speak freely without having to look into the eyes of the person standing before them. Their voices are heard through the keyboard and are posted on a virtual wall. All of this is a form of gossip.  I wonder has everyone forget another core lesson that our parents taught us. My Mother always told me. “If you don’t have anything nice to say about someone, don’t say anything at all.”  Seems like this too has been forgotten

   As I look back at my high school years I clearly remember a poster that I had hanging on my bedroom wall. The picture was that of a seagull soaring high in a richly blue sky.  The caption on the bottom read:

  “I shall pass this way but once.  Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now, for I shall not pass this way again.”…..Anonymous

 Simply put this is the Golden Rule Part II. 

 Many years ago those words resonated with me, and today they still do.  They are a natural extension of the Golden Rule. I believe that both men that are vying to occupy the Office of the President of the United States, or anyone for that matter running for a political office, live their lives by these words.  Why else would they open themselves to intense scrutiny and personal attacks if they did not have the desire to make positive differences in people’s lives?  

  I realize that my thoughts on this page are idealistic and unrealistic.  Political campaigns are and will continue to make one candidate out to be better by slandering the other.  Bullying this way is simply the way that it is.  But think about it for a moment.  How would our world be different if we moved just a few inches in the other direction? What if we slid the marker closer to the side of living by the Golden Rule than not? Could our lives possibly be better?  Would things be more peaceful? How would it be to live in a compassionate society opposed to one of verbal attacks? Maybe instead of twisting one another’s thoughts and words we could walk along a common path of creating a society that works towards shared goals and does not define ourselves by our differences.  What if we lived from the heart instead of the head…..Think about it.  Can you imagine?