23/12/2015
Golden Rule
---- David Cao
It was 6pm on one of the stormy days in July, 2015. I left school as usual, and bumped into one of our cleaners just out of the main gate. She was in a hurry back to the school. As she was supposed to finish her work at 4:30pm and to be at home at this time of the day, I said hello to her, and asked why she was coming back to school. “I went back home. As I closed my windows at home, it suddenly occurred to me I might not have closed the corridor windows at school. I can’t remember. So I come back to have a check. You know, we are having a storm tonight, the corridor could be flooded if the windows are not closed.” She replied. “You could have called the people at the college to help you. You don’t have to come back in such a bad weather to check the windows.” I said. Then she explained it was her job to make sure windows are closed and that’s what you do at home, anyway – closing windows when you leave your house. Seeing her rushing into school, I started to ponder over the conversation. I could not help but feel conflicted in my thoughts. One part of me was feeling some embarrassment, a lingering thought leftover from practical experience in dealing with issues related to proper use of lights, air-conditioners, printers, internets and facilities at AIC. The other part of me was pleased. We had people who are not our employees, but who care about AIC as much as most of our community members do.
How come a cleaner, who is, knowledge wise, less educated than most of us, is able to treat AIC as she does her home? What she did reminded me of one of the well-known ethical principles in Chinese culture: “Regard your neighbor's gain as your own gain, and your neighbor's loss as your own loss." The cleaner she is not well-educated and she does not know how to preach the principle, but she is able to act upon it. She knows the Golden Rule.
The Golden Rule is an ethical principle that is well-accepted by different cultures, religions and ethnical groups across the world. It suggests a general orientation toward others, an outlook for seeing our relations with them. The most familiar version of the Golden Rule says, “Do unto others what you wish others to do unto you.”It is parallel to the Chinese version: “Do not do unto others what you do not wish others to do unto you.”The most familiar version goes beyond the negative formulation of not doing what one would not like to be done to themselves, to the positive formulation of actively doing good to another that, if the situations were reversed, one would desire that the other would do for them. It emphasizes the needs for positive action that brings benefit to another, not simply restraining oneself from negative activities that hurt another. Having said this, both versions are equally applicable in guiding our ethical orientation. The essence of the Golden Rule is caring and putting ourselves in the shoes of others. Caring is one of the IB Learner Profile attributes which requires students to “show empathy, compassion and respect towards the needs and feelings of others, and to have their personal commitment to service, and act to make a positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment.”
The cleaner has set us a good example of caring about our community, why don’t we learn from this experience and contribute more positively to the growth and well-being of our community. Let us do things in a way that it makes exemplary IB practitioners.
