The Compass

There’s a little brouhaha going on in the blogosphere. Someone who used to be a Christian is now an Atheist. O.K. I’m cool with that. I’d actually be cool with just about any point A to point B transition that a person wanted to make. To each his or her own. Unfortunately, the gal making the transition is slamming (hard) where she used to be. Perhaps that’s what she needs to do to fully break free. I get it, but I don’t like it. It feels a little immature, rather like a teenager lashing out against authority as they separate and individuate.

However, the whole thing got me thinking about kindness, about intention and about the Golden Rule: Treat others as you wish to be treated; Love others as you love yourself. As Hillel is credited with saying: Everything else is commentary... The wonderful thing about what we know as the Golden Rule is that it emerged in some form in many ancient cultures. It’s a common rule of humanity. Do we all live up to it? Sadly, no. Have some cultures and societies disregarded it? Sadly, yes. Yet if you asked people, on camera, under oath “Is the Golden Rule a good tenet to live by?” I believe most everyone would say yes. They might want to qualify it, embellish it or tack on other rules and regulations. But I think we could easily find common ground there. The Golden Rule is a sort of wonderful passport or Rosetta Stone or compass; a peaceable, moral way of understanding each other and behaving in the world.

Or, as I like to say: “The Golden Rule has never jumped up and bit me on the ass.” And yes, you can quote me on that!