Shift In Good Direction by the Rev. Dr. Christopher D. Girata
Editor’s note: Rev. Dr. Girata submitted this article to the Katy Trail Weekly before the November 5 election results were announced.
This is a big week for our country. As I write this, Election Day is imminent. I’m hoping as you read this, that the day went smoothly, without any notable problems, and that we have clarity about who will be leading us next.
Regardless of who you voted (and I hope you voted), I want you to join me in desiring a better future. By better, I’m not implying policies, although those are important, too. By better, I mean our social order. Simply stated, we are not where we should be. At the highest level, we are not treating one another as we should if we hope to build a future that is better than the past. There is so much potential for good in the world, and people like you and me are the ones who can help bring about a shift in the good direction.
I’ll begin by encouraging us to lean into the old wisdom: “Treat others as you’d like others to treat you.” This version of the Golden Rule is nothing new, and for a long time I believe it served a purpose. It makes good sense to flatten the playing field and anchor our actions on the way we wish to act or to be treated. On the surface, this rule should encourage good behavior and develop a good social order. But that’s not happening as much as it should, so perhaps we need an update.
In some circles, people have made the conscious choice to move away from the old idea of treating others as you’d like to be treated, and moving toward new wisdom: “Treat others as they’d like to be treated.” At first glance, that might only seem like a semantic difference, but the implications are truly transformative. The old wisdom puts the actor at the center. Instead of seeking to better understand others, the old wisdom rooted behavior geared to the actor’s values. I offer that we, in seeking to build a better social structure, should consider the wishes of those acted upon first.
“Treat others as they’d like to be treated.”
– The Rev. Dr. Christopher D. Girata
Put another way, the new wisdom places the focus and attention on the person upon whom the action is taken. Rather than anchoring focus on the actor, the actor is called to be more kind and more considerate, placing more weight on the one who receives the action. In practical terms, how we treat another, including such mundane things like what we call them, isn’t based on our self-centered values, but instead places the highest value on loving the other person and prioritizing them rather than ourselves. With that simple shift, we could create a wave of meaningful, hopeful change.
As we near the end of the year, and with so much stress and anxiety falling all around us, I hope you’ll accept my invitation to make a small, meaningful shift in how you consider and treat others around you. I firmly believe that almost all of us are willing to do small things to make a big change for the better. Perhaps this small change is one that you can use today to begin that ripple of good to help transform our world.