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Do unto others as you would have them do unto you
Happiness
Someone to love, something to do, and something to look forward to.
If you don't like the Guiding Principles, try the following.
The Boy Scout Law
A scout is:
- Trustworthy
- Loyal
- Helpful
- Friendy
- Courteous
- Kind
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- Obedient
- Cheerful
- Thrifty
- Brave
- Clean
- Reverent
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The Scout Oath
I will do my best to do my duty to God and my Country and to obey the
Scout Law, to help other people at all times, to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.
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My purpose in publishing
this web site is to make people think about the golden rule and how it applies to them and others in their daily lives
and not to convince others of my opinions.
My general approach is
to start with comments from me in blue at the top of the page followed by an article or story below from another source.
Note that my comments contain my
opinions and should be read with that in mind.
The articles and stories
contain a mixture of facts and opinions from other sources and are selected by me because I think they represent food for
thought. Most of these will relate
to the central theme of this web site, Principles to Live By.
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An effort to make the world a better place in which to live.
The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 reminded
us once again of man's inhumanity to man. The Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote "Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands
mourn" in his poem "Man was made to Mourn", written almost two hundred and fifty years ago.
It seems that for whatever reason, a percentage of the worldly population is always engaged in assaulting
the rest of the population for their own personal gain or satisfaction.
Over the centuries, man has used religious
mandates as justification for such acts. While street crimes in the United States and elsewhere aren't usually based on such
high moral grounds, many aggressions against man are.
The United States is a nation founded on Christian principles
but based on an over-riding principle of religious freedom. In fact, the Pilgrims and many of our country's early settlers
came here to escape religous persecution.
Recently, several governing bodies around the US have espoused posting
the Christian Ten Commandants in all of the schools as a way of instilling the kinds of values that will reduce this violence
of man toward man.
These efforts have run into a solid wall of opposition from those who recognize the rights of other
religious groups not to be subjected to other's religious teachings in public schools.
The Ten Commandents may be
a Christian document, however when all of the world's religions are analyzed, they are all found to contain a number of common
guiding principles. These common principles have been noted by none other than the popular author, consultant, and motivator,
Stephen R. Covey, of Salt Lake City Utah USA.
Rather than try to foster our particular religous beliefs on others
in an attempt to immprove their sense of social and moral responsiblities, why not focus on the common ideals that all religions
espouse?
Who can argue with the idea of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you? Who can argue that having
compasion for others is not good for all men?
I believe we should begin a serious effort in the United States, and even around the world, to widely
publish and foster an understanding and adoption of these commonly accepted guiding principles. For ease of use, I suggest
referring to them just as "PRINCIPLES TO LIVE BY".
I have taken the liberty to substitute "compassion" for Covey's "consistency" which I believe is a more
important central principle all men should adopt.
I've also added a version of the "Golden Rule" which I believe encompasses
in one sentence all nine of these principles.
These principles are non-denominational. They are non-controversial.
They are readily accepted by every serious religious group around the world. If widely adopted and practiced, we not only
would have less violence of man against man, but fewer Enron fiascoes where a few profited from the pain of many.
If
these less intelligent animals and birds below can get along together, so can we.
Larry Feldhaus
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