Rules of Gold

Everyone has heard the golden rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This has sustained the vast majority of us through our school careers and only marginally beyond. Yet its message should have far more resonance as time goes on and we grow older.

The compassion required to follow the golden rule allowed us to stop and think about our actions and their consequences before we acted. Compassion is what allowed our ancestors to survive in cities and countries. It provided reasons to not act brashly and to try to help as many people as possible. Before agrarian societies, helping others was the only way to stay alive. Compassion was an early coping mechanism that still exists because it not only allows sympathy and empathy, but allows a complete immersion in the well being of the community.

Our society is starting to suffer as time goes on, due to the isolation of our fellow humans. This isolation is caused by the technology that has consumed their lives, giving them not only the lifeline to long lost friends, but a source of entertainment, news, and a pathway to almost any information they could want available. Such a self-serving invention eliminated the need to rely on others and began to kill compassion.

Reviews

[Elmarie]

Well I enjoyed this view of how technology has steered us to become more isolated and thus less connected. I feel incredibly isolated within my circumstances as I am a foreigner in a foreign country. I do have my family my husband and kids but that is all. I do have friends but they are far away. Neighbors are around of course but at a platonic non emotional sense. Cities tend to be an ultimate hub of isolation as millions of people walk past each other every day and seldom interact. We have become so internalized. When someone reaches out for help they may even be called beggars and losers. This has made me think. The isolated family unit and not the clan. Thank you for your deep insight.