Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Treat Others as You Want to be Treated

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Treat Others as You Want to be Treated

A taxi driver picked up an elderly lady in the middle of the night. He loaded her baggage and held her hand as she limped into the taxi. “Why are you so kind?” she asked. He replied, “It’s nothing; I just try to treat my passengers as I’d want my mother to be treated.” The lady was alone, sick, and going to a hospice to spend her last days; but she had great memories of where she used to live with her husband and where she used to work. The driver offered to take her by these places on the way to the hospice, which made her very happy. As they arrived at the hospice, the lady tried to pay; but the driver said, “No charge - it was my pleasure.” The driver always remembered that day, which was a high point of his life.

The golden rule is endorsed by all the great world religions; Muhammad (PBUH), Jesus, Hillel, and Confucius used it to summarize their ethical teachings. And for many centuries the idea has been influential among people of very diverse cultures. These facts suggest that the golden rule may be an important moral truth.

The golden rule is best interpreted as saying: “Treat others only as you consent to being treated in the same situation.” To apply it, you’d imagine yourself on the receiving end of the action in the exact place of the other person. If you act in a given way toward another, and yet are unwilling to be treated that way in the same circumstances, then you violate the rule.

To apply the golden rule adequately, we need knowledge and imagination. We need to know what effect our actions have on the lives of others. And we need to be able to imagine ourselves, vividly and accurately, in the other person’s place on the receiving end of the action. With knowledge, imagination, and the golden rule, we can progress far in our moral thinking.

The golden rule is best seen as a consistency principle. It doesn’t replace regular moral norms. It isn’t an infallible guide on which actions are right or wrong; it doesn’t give all the answers. It only prescribes consistency – which we not have our actions be out of harmony with our desires. It tests our moral coherence. If we violate the golden rule, then we’re violating the spirit of fairness and concern that lie at the heart of morality.

The golden rule, with roots in a wide range of world cultures, is well suited to be a standard that different cultures can appeal to in resolving conflicts. As the world becomes more and more a single interacting global community, the need for such a common standard is becoming more urgent.

One is supposed to consider others’ likes and needs properly. To avoid the literal golden rule fallacy, use a same-situation qualifier and ask: “Am I now willing that if I were in the same situation then this be done to me?”

There once lived a monkey and a fish. The monkey followed the golden rule, always trying to treat others as he wanted to be treated. But he sometimes applied the golden rule foolishly. Now one day a big flood came. As the threatening waters rose, the foolish monkey climbed a tree to safety. Then he looked down and saw a fish struggling in the water. He thought, “I wanted to be lifted from the water.” So he reached down and grabbed the fish from the water, lifting him to safety on a high branch. Of course that didn’t work. The fish died.

Kita, who lived on the same island, was a wise golden-rule monkey. She learned that fish die when taken from water. When the flood came, she considered taking a fish from the water. But she imagined herself in his situation. She asked, “Am I now willing that if I were in the same situation as the fish, then I be taken from the water?” She answered, “Gosh no: this would kill me!” So she left the fish in the water.

The foolish monkey applied the golden rule literally: treat others as you want to be treated. He wanted to be taken from the water, so he took the fish from the water. He didn’t consider how fish and monkeys differ. Being taken from the water saves a monkey but kills a fish.

Kita was much wiser. When Kita considered taking the fish from the water, she tried to know the situation of the fish – which had different likes, dislikes, and needs. She imagined being in the fish’s exact place and having this same thing done to her. She tested her consistency by asking: “Am I now willing that if I were in the same situation as the fish, then I be taken from the water?” Finally, she acted on the golden rule leaving the fish in the water.

So, to practice upon the Golden rule properly, one has to consider the four steps: Know: “How would my action affect others?” Imagine: “What would it be like to have this done to me in the same situation?” Test for consistency: “Am I now willing that if I were in the same situation then this be done to me?” Act toward others only as you’re willing to be treated in the same situation.

Hujjatullah Zia is the newly emerging writer of the Daily Outlook Afghanistan. He can be reached at outlookafghanistan@gmail.com

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