September 30, 2024: Do Unto Others
"Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours."
– Yogi Berra
The above quote by Yogi Berra contains a bit of humor, but also contains an important life lesson for all of us. Most of us were admonished early in our lives to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; to treat others as we would like to be treated. In spite of all those early repetitions of this important postulate, many of us behave as if it's just a nice saying with very little practical application. We, too seldom consciously treat others as we would like to be treated. We sometimes laugh at morbidly obese people without a clue as to what brought them to that stage in their lives. We look down our noses at homeless people, with no idea of what chain of events brought them to be where they are. If the roles were reversed, how would we like to be treated by onlookers? It would be wise for us to be thankful that the roles are not reversed; that it is them rather than us in those undesirable situations. Last time I checked, none of us were able to choose our parents, nor what neighborhood we would be raised in, or what schools we would attend. By consciously treating others the way we would like to be treated were we in their position, we acknowledge the fact that much of where we are today was a function of things that were completely out of our control. Thus, we are truly blessed that our early years were filled with enough nurture and nature to allow us to be where we are rather than where we could be. Treating others as we would like to be treated is merely an acknowledgment of the fact that wherever we are today did not have to happen the way that it did. Something to ponder.
© 2024 Detroit Flanagan
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