Ah, the old Golden Rule. Personal reciprocity, if you will. It should be simple to follow, and easy to go beyond. We all want others to treat us as we treat them, right? Of course there are many times when we should just treat others how they want to be treated. But, you get my point, I hope.
"Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you." It's right there in Matthew 7:12. Easy to find, but too often hard to follow.
Maybe it's the changing seasons, or the refreshment that comes from a short vacation I just had with friends. Who knows? Maybe, it's even the economy. Sorry, had to throw that in there. I do know that I've been reflecting a lot lately on how we all treat one another.
One of my very good friends gave up "talking bad about others" for Lent. He admits it's a major challenge and more of a thing to strive for than a total wash your hands from all bad words about others. But, his commitment really made me think. While I think I'm a pretty good person, I too often talk about people I don't even know. Nothing evil, but like many others I often have random comments about celebrities, politicians and others who I really don't know.
If love and rationalization are the top two human drives, talking about others has to be the third. We all do it. We talk about celebrities, our families, co-workers and friends. Too often we talk about them in vain. Why?
I know that venting can be productive and sometimes good for the soul, but do we do anyone any good by talking about them? I don't think so, and it's why I loved my buddy's "no more talking about others" Lenten challenge. I think, though, it's time for us to all go beyond the Golden Rule. Or, at the very least, strive to follow it a bit more closely.
A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.
He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.
Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.
He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.
He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.
