Here are a few things that happened on my trip that kept these thoughts on my mind:
- On the first leg of my trip, I sat down in my window seat, and the lady next to me asked if I would mind switching seats with her husband, a few rows up, so they could sit together. Of course I switched, and gathered up my things. The seat I switched into turned out to be the first row past first class, and it had about as much leg room as an emergency exit row!
2. On the second leg of the trip, from Minneapolis to Newark, as I approached my row, I notices an older gentleman seated in my seat. He had misread his ticket and sat in the wrong window seat. So he didn't have to get up, I offered to just take his seat. As it turns out, because I switched sides, I was able to to see NYC out the window!
3. On the airplane I read a Reader's Digest Article about making your own luck.
4. In NYC, I came across several friendly people. In the subway, while we were looking for the appropriate platform, a nice guy came up and asked where we were going and if we needed help. Later on, in NYC, As I was getting my camera out, another man stopped and asked if we needed directions. All in all, I found people very friendly in New York. They were willing to help, and friendly, and let me tell you what a difference it made when you just smiled and said thank you! Treat people well, and they will treat you well, back!
5. On the plane ride home, I met this rather unhappy young man. He was on his way back to California to visit his brother and he hated it. California was full of pretentious people who felt they were more than they are. Everyone thinks that they are somebody. He grew up in the same town I lived in. I felt really bad for this guy. It was obvious that he had a very negative stereotype about California people. Thus, whenever he met people that fit his stereotype, he filed it away. In other words, he sought out those types of people.
Lesson Learned: If you believe people are genuinely good, then, for the most part, you will meet good, friendly people. That is what you will seek out.
If you treat people with kindness and respect, they will respond in kind, for the most part.
And to combine those two lessons, if you believe that people or genuinely good hearted, then you will treat them with kindness and respect. They will return your friendliness, and as a result, the majority of people you meet will be nice.
This seems fairly obvious, I suppose, but it was just really driven home to me this trip as I watched how people interacted with each other!
Sometimes, the effects aren't so obvious as they were on this trip for me. Sometimes you may be very friendly, and you don't get a kind response. It happens. I read in a book somewhere before I went to Washington D.C. that there were a lot of homeless people there. The book basically said it was up to you whether you gave them money or food coupons or any other hand outs, or nothing at all, but it urged you to remember that these were people too, and if you didn't want to give out anything, of course that was logical, but to still treat them with respect. A smile, or a simple, "I am sorry, I don't have anything to give you." or anything that acknowledges their presence is better than ignoring them. Everyone might not agree, but since I've adopted this philosophy I've felt much better. Maybe it doesn't make a difference, but to me it does. I smile, I make eye contact, I say no thank you to people trying to sell stuff on the street, and sometimes I get a smile back. But you know what? It doesn't seem scary anymore. It is still sad, but not scary. I don't know if it makes a difference, but it feels better that ignoring people.
"Treat others the way you wish to be treated" - The Golden Rule
The golden rule is best interpreted as saying: "Treat others only in ways that you're willing to be treated in the same exact situation." To apply it, you'd imagine yourself in the exact place of the other person on the receiving end of the action. If you act in a given way toward another, and yet are unwilling to be treated that way in the same circumstances, then you violate the rule. - Routledge
"Everyone deserves to be treated with kindness and respect" - Cinderella
The Universality of the Golden Rule in the World Religions
Christianity
All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye so to them; for this is the law and the prophets. Matthew 7:1
Confucianism
Do not do to others what you would not like yourself. Then there will be no resentment against you, either in the family or in the state. Analects 12:2
Buddhism
Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful. Udana-Varga 5,1
Hinduism
This is the sum of duty; do naught onto others what you would not have them do unto you. Mahabharata 5,1517
Islam
No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself. Sunnah
Judaism
What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellowman. This is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary. Talmud, Shabbat 3id
Taoism
Regard your neighbor’s gain as your gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss. Tai Shang Kan Yin P’ien
Zoroastrianism
That nature alone is good which refrains from doing another whatsoever is not good for itself. Dadisten-I-dinik, 94,5
Humanism:
"(5) Humanists acknowledge human interdependence, the need for mutual respect and the kinship of all humanity."
"(11) Humanists affirm that individual and social problems can only be resolved by means of human reason, intelligent effort, critical thinking joined with compassion and a spirit of empathy for all living beings. "
Native American Spirituality:
"Respect for all life is the foundation." The Great Law of Peace.
"All things are our relatives; what we do to everything, we do to ourselves. All is really One." Black Elk
Roman Pagan Religion: "The law imprinted on the hearts of all men is to love the members of society as themselves."
Shinto: "The heart of the person before you is a mirror. See there your own form"
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