The Golden Rule

Isn't it funny,the memories that stay with us all our life.......The summer I was 8,our family had moved up to my great grandparents newly renovated farmhouse. That fall I would begin 3rd grade in a new school. I was a bit of a precocious learner,having learned to read before kindergarten, so school was an experience I enjoyed & looked forward to.
Mrs. Milson was the name of my teacher & she made learning fun. She had mental math games,where we would figure the sums as she called out numbers to add, subtract,multiply or divide. There were "rainy day cupboards" -cupboards filled with educational games of all sorts, that we could play with when outside recess wasn't an option. I can recall an outfit my Mother had made me & another outfit I had that was the same as another little girls' in my class....... we would sometimes plan together to wear them on the same day.
But the clearest & biggest recollection I have is of a "movie" played by Mrs. Milson. The "movies" were actually film strips that were turned manually on a film projector when an auditory tone sounded. I am sure we saw plenty of these film strips but I only remember one-it was about "The Golden Rule".
"The Golden Rule" is actually a Bible verse, a very familiar one, I would think, to most everyone. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." There was something very special about that to me as a little 8 year old girl. I understood what it meant. It told me the way to treat others, it made me think "how?" As in, how would I want someone to speak to me,how would I want someone to act toward me? I understood that I was to, then, speak & act accordingly, to others. I look back now & think it was the seed of empathy planted in me.The Golden Rule gave me crucial information about interacting with the world around me.
The Golden Rule allowed me to put myself in someone else's shoes,to think of the other person & how my actions might effect them. The rule has been a guiding light to sail me through the little difficulties we all face..... when the store clerk is rude-how will I choose to respond? When faced with an opportunity to be selfish at the expense of others-do I go ahead or do I consider how it would effect others??
That long ago film strip made a bigger impact on me than anything else I remember learning that year.If I, & everyone else, would practice the golden rule, this old world would be a far sweeter place,wouldn't it?! Words would, perhaps, be spoken a little kinder, our actions, more thoughtful. Like a coin of gold,it's only become more valuable to me as time goes on. I'm hoping you'll find someone to give a little "gold" to today! Blessings on your day!!