Have We Misinterpreted the Golden Rule This Whole Time?
“Treat others the way you want to be treated”
We’ve heard this saying our entire life. It’s been deemed The Golden Rule. But have we been doing it wrong the entire time? Now before you go and think I’m trying to rewrite your history or anything like that, just hear me out and then make your decision at the end.
There’s not much I can remember as a 7 year-old, maybe a couple of traumatic experiences, the names or faces of a few people, a favorite toy. But one thing I can vividly remember is in my second-grade classroom there being a poster hanging up right over the entrance with big golden letters. It read:
Treat Others The Way You Want To Be Treated.
Now of course at the second-grade level, the golden rule has to be broken down in such a way where a child could understand. But what I remember most about first learning of the golden rule was this: If you wouldn’t want someone to do something to you, don’t do it to them.
While I think that is definitely an aspect that can’t be ignored, having that be the foundation that we build upon for years sends the wrong message later in life. Often times the golden rule is only ever mentioned in a disciplinary setting. Little Johnny hit or called Sam a…
