The Golden Rule

I was adopted at the age of 8 months. My biological mother left me and I was found by a lady who took me and raised me. She located my mother but she was a little too busy to raise another child so it was at that point that my new mom stepped forward to legally adopt me. They changed my name and began to share their lives and love with me. This also included teaching me things that would help me become the person I was meant to be. One of the first things I was taught, was to respect others and to treat them the way I would like to be treated.

I grew up in an all-black neighborhood for the first few years of my life with my new family until I was about 7 years old and then in a mixed neighborhood until I was 18 years old. I had no sense of difference when it came to the color of the other children's skin. My new family took me to church every Sunday at the little community church. The old preacher there read from the bible in Luke 6:31 - "Do for other people what you want them to do for you." He called it "The Golden Rule."

We lived a few miles out of the City in a community made up of people who didn't seem to care what color each other was, they just helped each other out when needed. To me, all of the other children were the same they just looked different on the outside. We played at each other's houses and ate at each other's dining room table.

One of my best friends was a white boy named Timothy Monothy Griffin. We called him Tim for short. He was kind of fat and didn't like sports or things like that, but he was an awesome hunter. We use to hunt for a lot of our meals so he was a good guy to have around. He couldn't run fast, but he could shoot straight.

However, when we went to school we found out that everybody didn't think or feel the way we did. The other kids would say the nastiest things to Tim because of his weight and they would pick at me because of my color. I had black friends in school but Tim had become my brother.

One day a racial fight started at school and a group of black young men were chasing Tim. Without even thinking I jumped in between them and told them they could not and were not going to hurt Tim. I told them, "He was with me and I will protect him at all costs. " I was scared, but I felt right. I felt like I was doing what I would have wanted Tim to do for me if the shoe was on the other foot.

Later that evening I was at home with my mom when we heard a knock at the door. It was Tim's mom and dad. His dad Mr. Griffin said, Timmy told us what happened today at school and we wanted to just say thank you for looking out for him. They talked with my mom and our friendship and bond grew even tighter and stronger.

To me, I had just done for him what I would have wanted him to do for me. I had treated him the way I would have wanted to be treated. It was that day that I made it my business to live by "The Golden Rule" even when it doesn’t come back to me. Treat others the way you would like to be treated at all times unconditionally.

Well, I grew up and moved away from that little community and I never heard from Timothy Monothy Griffin again. I've gone back there from time to time, the little church and both our houses are gone and nobody knows me or Tim. The old preacher who read to us out of his bible passed away a few years ago but his words are still fresh in my memory and in my heart.

The Golden Rule may seem a little hard to live by in our present society but when done anyway it always proves to make a genuine difference.