Do Not Do Unto Others...

"Do not do unto others as you would they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same." (George Bernard Shaw)

All my life, and most likely for all of your lives, you have been taught to live by the golden rule: Do unto others as you want them to do unto you. I never thought there was fault in that phrase, and I did my best to follow that rule of thumb... Until I read this quote by George Bernard Shaw. After reading his lines a few times over, I wondered why I ever followed the golden rule.

I like sarcasm, and many people do not. I am optimistic, and so many people are pessimistic. I enjoy country music, 80's music, hip hop, and line dances. Packed clubs, rock wall gyms, and bookstores are places I love. But why would I assume that everyone around me holds the same interests or the same communication style? Exactly, I shouldn't.

It is my hope that more people will live by Shaw's rule, than by the golden rule - or at least understand it. Best wishes, and may you not treat others as you wish to be treated.

- Britney Hazleton -

Summer Is Well On Its Way

Summer is well on its way, and blogging for classwork is over. I have many interests and ideas I did not have the chance to discuss during this past semester, and from this point on would like to redirect the topic on this blog. Every week I plan to begin with a quote and what it means to me. I may even discuss how it has lead me in my life or where it makes me want to go. One of my passions is meeting new and interesting people, and I hope that through this new blog topic I can do just that.

So here it goes...

Quote of the Week (July 5 to July 12): "Men become susceptible to ideas, not by discussion and arguments, but by seeing them personified and by loving the person who so embodies them." (Lewis Mumford)

Each one of us as a child, or even as an adult, has at least one person we truly look up to - someone who inspires us. There is no reason set in stone as to why we choose the person [or people] we choose. One thing is certain: we see something in that person we want to see in ourselves. For those lucky and blessed to have a family who always stands beside them, there are siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, and grandparents to put on the list of idols. For a person like me who has immediate family that walks away in a crisis, an idol is not so readily available.

However, looking back on my years growing up in my parents' home, I have so many wonderful memories that now overpower the bad ones. And in glancing back every now and again, I can see that the people I trusted were not to be trusted so naively. Yet Lewis says, no matter how much another person contradicts your ideas, its the people you love who put ideas into you. There are things I learned and thoughts I have that got there in the fashion Mumford describes.

The beauty of this quote though, is that as we grow older, we love and learn with new people... forever gaining new ideas.