The Golden Rule

"Do unto others as you would have done unto you" or some version of that statement is probably known by most people, child and adult alike. It is a simple concept and easy to follow, right? One would think so. In the broad variety of experiences and situations I have encountered in my life, I have come to wonder if anyone considers class or status when practicing this idea. It has been extremely typical for me to observe a person treating someone they perceive to be in better standing or social status than himself with respect and good form, only to turn around in the next minute and speak condescendingly and give patronizing glances to one he considers beneath him.

For example, while sitting in a nice restaurant for lunch, I might notice the table across the aisle occupied by two businessmen. They spend the time waiting for their order to be taken joking and laughing about the happenings at work and planning future financial investments. They conduct thier business together with poise and dignity looking relaxed and comfortable. The air about them immediately changes when the waitress asks one of them to repeat an item he had just ordered after a loud noise from the kitchen drowned out thier voices. He rolls his eyes annoyed and looks over at his associate while making a gesture meant to convey the air-headed ignorance he so clearly deduces from the waitress' simple request for repetition. They clearly consider the lowly occupation of "Server" to be undeserving of the high regard and respect an educated businessman is entitled to. He is very apparently under the impression that he merits competent and accurate service from this ignoble lower class peon.

Having encountered similar behavior from most of her patrons on a daily basis, the waitress' self perception and her perception of others has likely been permanently formed. Having dealt with unceasing condescendence on a daily basis, the same superciliousness carries through to her own behavior toward people she feels are inferior to herself. For instance, when she leaves work for the day after the unseemly businessman incident, she may travel over to pick up her child from daycare. When she arrives and claims her son, he may have an unattended runny nose. She scoffs at the caregiver and sarcastically asks, "You couldn't find a tissue?"

While not one of these occupations is more or less important to our culture than the others, it seems that our society seems to have an inappropriate bias toward higher paying, higher regarded ones. If people truly followed the admonishment in the Golden Rule, there would be no social class or status. Everyone would simply be nice to everyone else, or at least treat them how they want to be treated, however that may be. Though I highly doubt there is anyone who truly prefers to be treated like they are inferior.