This morning I woke up around 4:00. Wide awake. Like you’d just slept eight hours awake. So, I turned on the TV, assuming that after watching 10-15 minutes, I would grow sleepy again. It works at 9:00 p.m. Why wouldn’t it work at 4:00 a.m.?
As I flicked through the channels, I came upon something claiming to be “a scientific look at the Adam and Eve story.” That got my attention. Since the Creation stories (plural – yeah, there are more than one) in Genesis are not about science but rather about the timeless relationship between divinity and humanity and all the earth, I thought this show would do the trick. I’d be fast asleep in no time. Instead, it actually took a while. The reason was that the show had the strangest proposition you can possibly imagine. It argued against Darwin’s theory of evolution and the survival of the fittest, and contended that the biblical Creation Story was “more or less” accurate (wait for it – the “more or less” part is where it gets weird). Referring to the idea (actually supported by many in the legitimate scientific community) that there is a tiny, identifiable component in everyone’s DNA that can be traced back to one woman in northern Africa eons ago, the TV show said that she obviously was Eve. And (buckle up for this) she was different from all her Neanderthal or Cromagnon counterparts because … (ready?) aliens from outer space had injected their DNA into her, and she had suddenly become super-intelligent. Seriously. You can’t make this stuff up. (Note: They did not claim that any super-intelligent DNA was injected into Adam so, for us guys, that explains a lot.)
It took some milk and part of a doughnut to get sleepy again. I then was able to make it till around 6:00 a.m. when I woke up thinking about the TV program. DNA from aliens? Give me a break! However, I began to wonder if there is any basic, fundamental thing that we humans do share in common, as if it were part of some collective DNA. I think there might be a few things. A longing to be safe would be one. A longing to be happy would be another. Everyone from everywhere, myriad differences notwithstanding, harbors those identical desires. How about a longing to be known? To be understood? To be loved? There are emotions that we all experience.
You know what would be wonderful if we all shared it in common? A longing to be kind. Just a commitment to treat others the very same way we hope they will treat us. That’s a biblical dictum we can hang onto: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” As a matter of fact, it’s more than just biblical. A version of that verse shows up not just in the Judeo-Christian Bible but in every holy book of every one of the world’s major religions. It’s the only verse we all share in common – as if somehow from the very beginning we all understood one basic thing which came to be known as The Golden Rule. It has been a foundational principle of every faith from the outset, almost like it’s part of our spiritual DNA.
What if everyone who claims to be part of a faith would make an earnest decision every day to live up to the one principle we say we believe in? Forget yesterday. Don’t worry about tomorrow. Just do it one day at a time. When you get up, re-up. “Today I will treat others as I would want them to treat me if the tables were turned.” What if every political leader who talks about his/her faith would suddenly become faithful regarding The Golden Rule? What if all employers did that? Or all employees? Neighbors? Family members? Members of faith communities?
What kind of world could we have if we all said “Yes” to our common spiritual DNA – the simple strand of kindness? Like most of those “ripples in a pond” things, it begins when we throw in a single stone. Put another way, if I want kindness to be at work in the world, then I need to let it begin with me. This day. Every day. Person by person by person. “Today I will treat others as I would want them to treat me if the tables were turned.” Hey! It’s got to start somewhere.