Since it is official Jesus Day today, in memory of him teleporting out of the tomb and saving the world (how’s that for comeback), I thought I would say a few words about the Golden Rule. After all, Jesus made it famous. There are similar sayings from other people, or so I have heard, although I have never heard who. The Silver Rule (don’t do it to others if you don’t want them to do it to you) was around in the same area before Jesus though, and is generally something small children learn the hard way.

Anyway! It has come to my attention that some people think the Golden Rule is not perfect and we need a “Platinum Rule”. While I’d say Kant may have been on to something with his proposal that we should live so that our actions could be used as a universal law, that is a bit too wide to be practical. Most of us don’t know much about the universe and its morality, but we know what we’d like others to do to us. So we can do that to them.

Now the latest criticism I have heard is that we should do to others what THEY want rather than what we want. Uhm. Yes, dear reader, this is what happens when people think Jesus was some kind of barbarian hick who couldn’t think as clearly as they can – even though they obviously don’t even have the wisdom of Solomon. If they had, they would not have made fools out of themselves. (And I don’t mean that in a good way, this time.)

Let me illustrate this by example. Let us say that you really like grilled cheese sandwiches. Really, really like them. According to the Golden Rule, whenever you have guests, you would serve grilled cheese sandwiches and nothing but grilled cheese sandwiches, right? Because that is what you would want them to do when you visit them.

But wait a minute! One of your neighbors has this thing about hot dogs. He really, really likes them. Or so it seems, because every time you’ve been there, he has served hot dogs and nothing but hot dogs. Even though you have tried to speak to him at length and in great detail about the glory of grilled cheese, he just doesn’t take a hint and keeps serving hot dogs. He simply ignores your opinion completely, and you don’t like that at all. Did you hear that? So don’t do that to him!

We definitely want other people to consider our needs, and within reason also our wants. Therefore, the Golden Rule commands that we do the same unto them. How hard can that be to understand?

The Golden Rule grows with you. Just because you interpreted it in a childish way does not mean this was its only meaning. No matter how much your awareness expands, the same principle still applies. You want others to live a life that can serve as a moral guideline for the world? In that case, it behooves you to do the same.

That’s all, folks. Or at least it is Moses and the prophets.