Why I can’t put a Golden Rule sign up…yet.

There is a sign in my yard that says:

We believe Black Lives matter

No human is illegal

Love is Love

Women’s rights are human rights

Science is real

Water is Life

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

I have this sign in my yard because I DO believe all of these things, and have worked consistently to live accordingly.

My beliefs and my actions are in accordance with the things this sign says.

I do NOT have a Golden Rule sign in my yard.  This is why.  To date, I have not attained the standard of the Golden Rule. It would be hypocritical to claim I have. I don’t even know if I can honestly say I am trying to “Be Golden”.

Don’t get me wrong;  I am nice to people on the street. I smile at them.  I listen to others’ viewpoints and not only “tolerate” them, but invite understanding and respect in these relationships and conversations.  If I were a child, this would qualify me to say that I was doing all I was capable of to live by the Golden Rule.  The rule resonates for children, is easy to talk about and read books about and is simple enough for children to attain, in their very simple, basic, small worlds.

But if I am honest with myself, I must admit that, in adult standards, I simply do NOT live by The Golden Rule. As an adult, my world becomes far too complex a world to say that I am doing so.

As an adult, I am too aware, constantly, of the ways that I fall short, and the complications of the way that Golden Rule becomes slightly myopic and can even be trite, when we are adults. 

It starts with a question of who the “others” are that I am treating the way I want to be treated.  

If they are the next door neighbors who are very similar to myself, that’s often an easy ask.  I could probably say I live by the Golden Rule in that smaller realm.  

Although admittedly, when a neighbor painstakingly cares for their grass, and I like my yard a bit more organic, and then my dandelions float over onto their lawn, and wreck their beautiful grass, and they don’t like that…how do we reconcile that with the Golden Rule?   Or when I would like the Wild and Scenic River nearby to be protected from overuse, pollution and too many boats and people…but someone else might think it is a good idea to double the size of the boat launch, the Golden Rule is simply too shallow to address this situation.  

I may be tempted to look at MY viewpoint as the “right” one, and then I get caught up in thinking about how to apply the Golden Rule, but then I question why I should listen to YOU when you clearly are not listening to me!?  Who becomes marginalized?

But THEN it becomes infinitely and exponentially more complex when I begin to look at the “others” in this “Do Unto” requirement as people in larger communities that I belong to.  

Then I KNOW that I am falling WOEFULLY short on the Golden Rule. 

When I open up my world to include brothers and sisters in my city, state, my country, the world…then I have to admit that I do NOT live by the Golden Rule.  

I have a house.  Two+ cars. Food in amounts so plentiful I sometimes throw some of it away. Clean water, so plentiful I can water my lawn with it, even on a rainy day!  More clothes than I could ever wear and more furniture than I could possibly actually need. I drive too much. I buy single-use plastics.  I like my comforts.  

And I know full well that others don’t have what I have.  And that my choices disproportionately affect those who already live in poverty.  If I were in their position, I would be desperate for people in MY position to help. To make changes.  But THERE IS SO MUCH TO BE DONE THAT I DO NOT DO.

I sometimes think about what I would do if Jesus came to my door.  Or any of our doors.  If he looked at what we have, and how we live, and in his omniscient manner, compare all of this to how other people in the world were living?  He’d throw down some SERIOUS shit.  Have you ever watched Jesus Christ Superstar?  It would be that scene where the money-changers were in the temple…yikes.  

I can aspire to the Golden Rule. There is NOTHING wrong with that. And if a sign or a bookmark reminds me daily to do that, then it would benefit me to have those around. 

Unfortunately for me, the constant presence of a sign that says I am doing something that I don’t actually do, might lull me into a false sense of belief that it’s true. 

But it’s not. YET.  

To TRULY live by the Golden Rule will mean to continue to educate myself about what other people from different backgrounds and experiences are struggling with.  To face what the effects my choices in lifestyle and consumption have on the world at large. 

And if I do so, I will HAVE to change the way I am living.  

I am working on it.  But I am sure not there yet.