What if the Golden Rule wasn’t just an admonition, “Do on to others, as you would have others do on to you”, but was a reality of people actually being treated the way they were treating others? It is an idea that popped into my head during the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. One of the musicians spoke about how he hoped that if aliens came to our world, he would get a chance to meet them. It struck me that this reflected an interesting view, the belief that the aliens would be beneficent. As I thought about it, I thought, perhaps that reflects the sort of person that the singer/songwriter was. My mind wandered to the idea for a short story of aliens coming to our earth who really did reflect back how they were treated. If they were treated belligerently, they would be belligerent. If they were treated kindly, they would be kind. If they were treated with curiosity, they would be curious.

My mind wandered to an old thought. What if Heaven and Hell were really the same place, a place where we were in the presence of a loving creator? Those who had longed to meet a loving creator would find this to be heaven. To those who have hated the idea of a loving creator, it could be hell. Another twist on this would be, what if the afterlife was a place where you were treated the way you’ve treated others?

Today, I experienced great kindness from a couple people. They were people that I generally consider to be very kind, but it was unexpected and came as a pleasant surprise. Can I show such kindness? I thought about discussions at work about treating patients with dignity. What if we really treated every person with great dignity? Whether it be a homeless man, or a political figure with an opposing viewpoint?

These thoughts came into greater focus as I thought about the debt debate. Are our elected officials treating their political opponents with dignity and kindness; in a way that they would want to be treated? I suspect in many cases, they are not. How thought out are the discussions about the debt ceiling? What is just rhetoric and what has substance?

Today, I read Congressman Jim Himes’ op-ed, Time to make tough decision to cut deficit, invest in future. He describes the current issue like this:

As a tool for highlighting political hypocrisy, the debt limit is unimpeachable. Members of Congress routinely vote to cut taxes or raise spending, both of which require borrowing that they then vote against. That's like running to the store, buying a flat screen TV, and then making a big show of not paying your credit card bill because of your mounting debt.

I think that sums up pretty nicely my view of the current debt ceiling issue. What if others in congress heeded Congressman Himes’ words, and simply passed a clean increase in the debt ceiling, and then really rolled up their sleeves and respectfully worked together to find ways that substantially changed our financial future for the better? That might be more unexpected than the kindness I received today, and it is probably much more needed, because the other question of what if Congress remains stuck in its disrespectful bickering and lets our country default should be too frightening to consider.