The Golden Rule

I have read that there is one thing that is common to all of the religions of humankind all over the world and that is the simple concept of the golden rule: treat others as you yourself would wish to be treated.

It is easy for me to believe this. This is a simple concept that embodies a deep, universal, spiritual principle.

I don’t know about you, but I have a difficult time with this one. If I am treating others the way I really wish to be treated, then I must frequently want to be treated pretty poorly. For example, I must not want others to yield to my right of way when I am driving. Or I must want others to reflexively lie to me when I ask how projects are going.

Often in situations like that, it never even crosses my mind to think of others.

Honestly, I don’t think there are very many people or organizations out there that do much better than I do with this. For such a simple principle it is an amazingly difficult one to live up to. There seem to be some routine reasons for why we, as a species, seem to be utterly incapable of treating each other with even the most basic of human decency.

Not being able to identify with another human leads the pack. If we can identify and empathize with another human being, treating them poorly is much less likely to happen. At work I don’t have a clue what is involved in international shipping and have no interest in finding out. As a consequence of that, I rage at my coworkers when they screw up shipments to my clients. I get furious with them. Recently I have gained an appreciation for the difficult, exacting and mind numbing documentation international shipping requires. As a result of that, I have much more patience and tolerance with my coworkers difficulties.

I have to ask: if Israelis appreciated the difficulties in living on the West Bank and Gaza, would they treat the Palestinians the way they do? I mention this specific political, religious and ethnic problem for the simple reason that this one bothers me the most. I mean, here is one of the most persecuted minorities in all of human history: the Jewish people. They know what it is like to be on the receiving end of the most extreme of human cruelty and sadism. Not only that, but they have survived a deliberate, systematic attempt to eradicate them from the earth.

If I judged Israel solely by the actions I observe on television and the deeds listed in the newspapers, I think it would not be out of line to assert that that as a culture what Israelis have learned from these centuries of persecution is how to persecute others more efficiently. They treat the Palestinians, on the whole (with a few notable exceptions) as less than human.

How can this happen? Can we as a species not learn from the past?

I think that these things happen to a large extent because of fear. Israel has a very real, very healthy fear that the Islamic, Arab culture that surrounds their nation wants to annihilate them. I think fear motivates them to be cruel and inhumane to Palestinians. After decades of bloody conflict, there probably is no small measure of malice involved either.

Before anyone assumes I am an anti-Semite, take the above document, cut and paste it into word and do a search and replace. Replace the word Israeli or Jewish with the word white and replace the word Palestinian with Native American. Or how about Pakistani and Indian? Irish and English? Japanese and Chinese? Muslim and Christian? The only thing that would not be true is the specifics of Jewish history. All the rest could go unchanged pretty much. This problem is species wide and not confined to any faith, ethnicity, gender, political or other group.

Even my stupid little example about international shipping relates back to fear. I am afraid I will lose my customer if the shipment is screwed up, and then I would lose my commission. So, fear is the basis of my callousness to my coworkers.

There is a solution. I saw that solution last night on the US women’s Olympic softball team. That was a team made up of Latino, Asian, African-American and a dozen sub-varieties of Caucasian women. All on the same team; all cheering each other on.

We need to make the world look like that. We need to learn to see each other as being fully and wonderfully human. Jews and Palestinians need to plant olive groves together. Pakistanis and Indians must together transform Kashmir into a land of mutual properity. The Irish need to let go of past resentments and the English need to learn they are no longer a colonial power.

The internet helps--borders are becoming political fictions. Business is helping as well although I feel capitalism brings its own set of evils. I do believe it is getting better, one day at a time, one person at a time. Often it seems as though we take one step forward and three steps back.

I don't believe the Goddess put us here to hate and hurt each other. That we choose to do so is our problem, not Hers. But I believe She stands willing to help when invited to do so.

Good Morning, Great Lady, I thank You for this new dawn. May I do Your will today. Thank You for my sobriety. I am grateful. Blessed Be.