“Try to treat others as you would want them to treat you.”
L. Ron Hubbard
Today, we want to examine the virtue of fairness in our relationship and dealings with others.
It is popularly called, the Golden rule: an essential principle in a civilized world of tolerance and harmony where everyone can live with everyone else gracefully and in peace.
Before I write further, permit me to quote a few thinkers’ words on the meaning of this important code of ethics.
Umar ibn Al-Khattab, (the second Rightly Guided Caliph of the Islamic Empire) said: “What you do not want for yourself, do not impose it on others.”
Hillel the Elder, the Jewish religious sage also wrote: “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn.
Orison Swett Marden, the founder of SUCCESS magazine viewed it with the lens of business. He stated: “The golden rule for every business man is this: 'Put yourself in your customer's place.”
You see, it simply boils down to this: we should never want or demand anything from anyone else that we are not perfectly willing to accept ourselves. We should treat everyone with sufficient care and kindness just as we would like to be treated.
In his book on ‘Business Ethics,’ John Maxwell challenges us to personify this empathic principle with the following simple question:
“Every day, whenever the issue of ethical behavior confronts you, ask this question: ‘How would I like to be treated in this situation?’”
If we adopt this principle as the integrity guideline for our lives, we will ensure that everyone in our world is treated with due respect and fairness in every transaction, every engagement and even in the resolution of any dispute.
A good life is the net result of cumulative choices that are predominantly based on wisdom and virtue. By aligning our values with the true north principles, we are taking an important step to ensuring that we are going to make the right choices of thoughts, words and actions, even when it is easier not to.
Once we decide to regulate our conduct by the golden rule of fairness and consideration for others, we would give ourselves the necessary clarity we need to act wisely in every challenging—or confusing— situation.
In the words of Edwin Markham, an American poet of Oregon: “We have committed the Golden Rule to memory; let us now commit it to life.”
Therefore, make the golden rule the integrity guideline for your life.
