“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
This is known as the Golden Rule. It’s what I try to live my life by and I do my best to keep it in mind during all of my interactions with others both on and offline. Under normal circumstances, it’s really not that hard, and I think that most people naturally do this in regular interactions. In certain cases though, it can be very, very difficult, and those are the times I believe it’s the most important.
One example that is very applicable to Steem is with online interactions. When interacting with others over a distant and impersonal medium such as the internet I think we often lose sight of the fact that the person on the other end of the computer screen is a human being - just like ourselves. When that happens we lose the natural inclination to treat the other person as we would like to be treated.
I find that I also have this tendency sometimes when I interact with people online and to combat it I try to think about how I would act if I were talking to the person face to face. We all know that most people would not say the same things they post online in a face to face interaction!
The hardest thing that I’ve found though is to continue to apply the Golden Rule even when someone has treated you badly, or wronged you in some way. In many cases with people who are typically very nice to others, everything goes out the window when someone does something they don’t like. This is again exacerbated when it happens online.
The rule is “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. period. It doesn’t have any exceptions or conditions. It doesn’t say “do unto others as you would have them do unto you, except if they’ve treated you badly first”, although this is how it’s often implemented in practice.
If you want to really be a true follower of the Golden Rule (as I try to be, although I’m not quite there yet) then this is the part you need to master. To still be able to treat someone with kindness, understanding, and empathy even after they have attacked or wronged you is the ultimate achievement in self control and personal interaction, in my opinion.
There are many, many times on Steem in particular where someone responds to something I’ve written with a mean, personal attack, and my initial reaction is almost always to respond in kind. But I’ve learned to wait and give it some time before I respond which allows me to remember and apply the Golden Rule.
If everyone could apply the Golden Rule - even in these difficult situations - then Steem, the internet, and indeed the whole world would be much better off. Of course I know that that will never happen, but at least I can try to do my part by following the rule in my own interactions, and if this post helps even one other person do the same then it will be well worth the effort to write it!
