The Golden Rule

The world is full of hypocrites. I'm not talking about the occasional hypocrite -- everyone has a hypocritical moment now and then, usually when emotions are high or there's an open bar.

I'm talking about the people who are hypocritical in their most casual day to day interactions. Serial hypocrites. Most serial hypocrites are unaware of their own hypocrisies. They don't spend a lot of time thinking about what they say or how they act, or how the things they say and the things they do may not quite match up.

The biggest serial hypocrites are often those who tout the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule comes from the Bible, but Christians aren't the only ones to claim to follow it, or some form of it. The Golden Rule simply says that you should treat others the way you want to be treated.

Treat others the way you want to be treated. That's a great idea. You can see why a lot of people would jump on board. Not everyone, of course. There are always those who hear the Golden Rule and say, "Nah, other people don't deserve to be treated the way I want to be treated." They want to be treated better than other people. It's easy to scorn those people, in theory, but they often earn our grudging respect. They're selfish, but honest.

There are a lot more people who claim to follow the Golden Rule, but never stop to think about what that means in daily life. Treat others the way you want to be treated. Such a simple idea, in theory.

If you claim to follow the Golden Rule, here are a few behaviors that don't fit your claim. If you regularly do any of them, you might be a serial hypocrite.

1. Make snide comments and pass them off as jokes. Sarcasm and satire have their place, but veiling criticism behind a snide comment isn't funny. If someone says they like cheesecake and you reply, "Oh I can see that! ha ha" -- it's not funny.

1-a. Tell someone they are "too sensitive" or that they "can't take a joke". This goes with the first point, but can also stand alone. If someone tells you that something you said offended them, apologize, sincerely. Whether you intended to or not, you offended them.

2. Steal. Anything, any time. A lot of people who claim to follow the Golden Rule also claim to believe thou shalt not steal. They just don't extend that to include things like "borrowing without asking", burning copies of CDs to share with friends, or using "creative accounting" on their income taxes. If you're trying to get something for nothing, there's a good chance you're stealing. Someone, somewhere, always ends up paying for whatever it is you got for free.

3. Question another person's lifestyle with the intent of converting him or her. Someone you know is different than you. You bike 42 miles a day and his idea of exercise is walking up the escalator. You think it tastes great, she thinks it's less filling. Friendly debates and group interventions aside, learn to live and let live. Other people are capable of forming their own belief systems and, even if they are different than your own, you do not have the right to judge them.

4. Make more work for other people. Yes, the grocery store employs someone to gather the shopping carts from the parking lot, but if they also have a cart corral, use it. Don't leave your cart wedged between two cars or on the grassy median. And don't haphazardly shove your cart into the corral, either. You know how shopping carts nest together. Take 20 extra seconds to do it properly.

I could toss out examples all day, but I think you see where I'm going with all this. The economy is tanking, the country is at war, the environment is choking, health care is in crisis, and reality TV is here to stay. There are a lot of opinions about what started it all, but I think it goes back to the littlest decisions each person makes in his or her daily life.

If more people believed in -- and actually followed -- the Golden Rule, the world could be a very different place.