Recent Golden Rule Commentaries

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Matter of Conscience
In a moving and meaningful message to Congress last Thursday, Pope Francis said, “Politics is… an expression of our compelling need to live as one, in order to build as one the greatest common good… Let us seek for others the same possibilities which we seek for ourselves. Let us help others to grow, as we would like to be...
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September 28, 2015
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The Audacity of Humility
“It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.”  – St. Augustine Before his elevation to the head of the Catholic Church, Jorge Bergoglio began as a Jesuit priest from Argentina. Since his investiture as Pope in 2013, following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis — in honor of Francis of...
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September 25, 2015
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Seeking a Higher Ground
Even as he took the oath of office, Lincoln knew that civil war was coming. In his first speech as commander and chief, even as he urged restraint, he made clear “In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war… You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while...
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June 15, 2015
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McStupid
Nothing is uglier than someone who feels she’s special and others aren’t. Following a one week suspension for verbally abusing a towing company employee, ESPN Sports reporter Brittany “Britt” McHenry has returned to work. In a video that’s been widely circulated, the 28-year-old can be heard heartlessly disparaging a female clerk, clearly pointing out the “class” distinction between the two,...
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April 24, 2015
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The 1914 Christmas Truce
With the recent shootings of two police officers in New York, the Eric Garner and Michael Brown protests , the Sony “hack,” the continued terrorist threats by the self-styled “Guardians of Peace,” and ISIS, Dr. Robert Sapolsky, a professor of biology, neurology and neurosurgery at Stanford University, finds meaning in a Christmas gesture made 100 years ago. The front page...
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December 22, 2014
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Just Like Pat
Last January, Megan, one of my New Hampshire students, responded to the question, “who is the most ethical person you know?” with this essay about a neighborhood mom named Pat. When most people think of an ethical person they think of Mother Teresa, Mohandas Gandhi or Jimmy Carter. They all did great things in their lifetime, which is why people...
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May 10, 2013
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Three Principles I Live By
The recent controversy over scenes of torture in Zero Dark Thirty, a film dramatizing the hunt for terrorist Osama bin Laden, caused me to revisit a student paper from Steve Ambra’sContemporary Ethical Issues class. The student, a former U.S. soldier deployed to Iraq, reminded me of just some of the many ethical issues faced by our military in combat situations. “I joined the military at...
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January 23, 2013
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Accepting Criticism
“Improving the world starts with ourselves.” That’s how one New Hampshire student summarized ethics. A straightforward message not far from Gandhi’s assertion that we must “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” However, putting that principle into practice can sometimes be daunting, particularly in dealing with individuals who may interpret the Golden Rule as something considerably less than...
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February 21, 2011
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The Ethics Corps
Early in 1995 I was working for a motivational speaker who needed a talk on ethics. I had just finished writing a magazine article on the creation of the Lone Ranger and, in the course of the article, revealed that the character had been created around a set of ethical values in order to teach young radio listeners the importance...
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February 14, 2011
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A League of Their Own
In my book, What Do You Stand For?, holocaust survivor Judy Meisel writes, “The statement, ‘What can I do, I’m only one person?’ upsets me. One person can do a lot!” That phrase came to mind while I was reading a paper from one of my New Hampshire students. “I have done some good things for people, but I have done more...
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January 28, 2011