Do unto others are words telling us that what we don’t want done to us, we are not to do to others. These words sound biblical and they are but they are not found in the bible in those precise words, but the intent is found throughout and in all religions that base their beliefs on love thy neighbor as thyself. These latter explanatory words in their original context can be found in the Christian bible in the Old Testament - the Jewish part of the bible in Leviticus 19:18 and in the New Testament - The Gospels - in Mark 12:31.

No finer words exist as a guideline on how to treat others. They become an ever ready reference when confronted with the problem as what to do when all stressed out about our action or our inaction toward others. Sometimes we expect too much of ourselves and we overdo our neighborliness, as an example. Where do we look for guidance? Or if we don’t we agonize over what we should have done but didn’t do. Use the do unto others guideline and you will never go wrong. Examples follow below:

Most of us have been taken in by shysters who beg money from us. Being soft hearted we plunge our hands in our pockets and give our last five dollars to a hungry man on the street. Indeed he does look hungry and since we are on your way to lunch, so are we. Therefore we know the feeling. Later, discussing the situation of hungry and the homeless with friends, thoughts on how to deal with this frequent happening is discussed. A buddy insists he never gives money. I will buy them a burger and a drink sometimes but no money. I am afraid they will use it to buy alcohol or drugs, he explains.

You keep quiet. You think about it this way. You donated your money to a hungry soul and it does not take away from your good feeling of knowing you helped someone when in need. In need of whatever is not your concern! You have applied the golden rule of do unto others as you would do unto yourself. Indeed, if you were hungry on the street and asked for money you would be appreciative of the generosity of strangers.

Or, maybe you would not go up to strangers and brazenly ask for a handout. Instead you would find your way to a friends house or to one of the soup kitchens, or scrounge in the alley behind a restaurant for a handout. You then are perfectly justified in doing unto this person as you would do unto yourself. You need feel no remorse in saying no. Your first obligation is to your self and you pay taxes and whenever possible, you donate to charities that help feed hungry street people.

Another example: You are in line at a grocery store and you see a pickpocket remove the billfold from the man in front of him. Do you keep quiet out fear, or do you forcefully tell the man to give the billfold back? You confront him and you have lots of people that will back you up. You are doing what you would want some one to do for you if you were being robbed. See how useful these eleven little words are? How in the world could we live without them? While they may not make saints out of us, they may help us get a good nights sleep.