Guest Opinion | Scott Phelps: Something’s Missing, The Golden Rule

It’s hard to pick the right word for what it is. Sympathy? Empathy? Compassion? I looked up the definitions of each one of these and none of them are quite right.  Such is the kingdom of names, ultimately unsatisfying.  Wanting to help others?  The Golden Rule comes closest, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” A great spiritual teaching that is found in all religions, with records of its use at least back to ancient Egypt.

I noticed this during the increase in refugees fleeing conditions in their home countries a couple years ago in various parts of the world. In the case of the US, most were fleeing violence and desperate situations where they lived in certain places in Central America. I was struck by the reaction of some, and I heard it commonly from those who had themselves immigrated many years before to the US. They said these poor folks had to go back and wait in line and then come when they were granted permission. Something is obviously missing in that reaction. There isn’t a parent alive who wouldn’t try to flee these kinds of situations to give their children a chance to survive. Plus, many folks who were saying this had left conditions in other parts of the world that were unsafe or without resources before coming to the US to seek a better life for themselves and their families. I still don’t get it.  If we were fleeing such conditions how would we want to be treated?

I am hearing what I believe are similar reactions these days about the Black Lives Matter movement.  Chief among them of course is the “all lives matter” response.  That is a response that obviously doesn’t recognize the pain and suffering that gave rise to Black Lives Matter.  But further than that, it is another example of the failure to practice what every religion says to do, the Golden Rule.  There’s no way anyone who is in pain would want others to dismiss their pain which is what saying all lives matter does. There’s also no way anyone who is saying all lives matter would think it is acceptable to be treated with the excessive and lethal force that too often police or self-appointed citizen guardians of certain streets use on Black people and which has killed them. Or just to be stopped for driving or even walking in a certain area. (If you don’t believe that the latter happens, just ask a Black friend if anything like this has happened to them.) Etc. And what about the calls that are often what lead to these tragedies?  Would we want someone to call the police because we were driving, walking, picnicking, swimming, barbecuing, playing, working, sleeping (even when drunk in a fast food drive through) in a certain location where others didn’t think we belonged?  I don’t think so.  We would want to be treated as fellow human beings.

How about we just practice that one teaching that is as old as history, God’s most famous rule.  Treat others as we would want to be treated.  And that includes not calling the police for most things. We wouldn’t want someone to do that to us; let’s not do it to others.