Started thinking about the Golden Rule this morning. You know...
"One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself."
I'm a believer that this simple rule, if followed, would alleviate much of the world's problems. I am also a believer in the inherent goodness of people. Naivete, my husband sometimes calls it, but I have to believe that he has a good reason for saying this. I think that the average person wants to help others and would, if given a chance. My husband points to apocalyptic books and zombie movies, in which citizens turn on each other at the first opportunity. He means well, my guy, but perhaps puts too much faith in books and movies.
So this morning, off to the computer I went, googled "things to do for others." Not really intending to do anything, just out of curiosity. First result...a book on Amazon (of course), a Christian offering about helping others that got scathing reviews for its grammatical errors. Other results of interest: helpothers.org, a sort of online Chicken Soup for the Good Samaritan's Soul. But the site on which I spent the next twenty minutes: Day Zero, a site "that inspires you to set and achieve your personal goals in life." The challenge: list and complete 101 personal goals in the next 1001 days. For inspiration, you can look at what others have aspired to, or you can input your own goals. What a great idea, right? Sort of a bucket list for good works, expanding your mind, stuff like that. The mind immediately starts working, aspirations big and small...build a house with Habitat for Humanity, volunteer at the local senior center, take my kid to the art museum.
Here is the top twenty, the most popular tasks listed at Day Zero by its participants:
Really? These are the top 20? Some are certainly big passages in life--get a job, get married, fall in love; some are mildly ambitious--go camping, go to a concert; some intend to touch others in an anonymous, virtually meaningless way--leave an inspirational note in a book. tie a note to a balloon and let it go. But none of them really has anything to do with "things to do for others," which is what I googled to find this site. Apparently, people get side-tracked. But just how unambitious do you have to be that "find out my blood type" is one of your life's aspirations? Why would you want to write a letter to yourself, to be opened in a decade? How hard is it to build a snowman? And if you can't access your own medical records, how likely are you to donate blood? By the way, you can probably find out your blood type when you donate blood. Just a thought. Isn't it enough to watch twenty or so new movies, without the added complication of alphabetizing them?
Sorry to be a downer to all this positive thinking, but I just don't get it. I think the most productive task on the list is "don't complain about anything for a week." And I'm starting....right....now.
