Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and The Platinum Rule
How I Will Face This Day:
I will make the “Platinum Rule” my standard for how I interact with other by doing unto others better than I would want done unto me.
My dear Briana,
You know as well as anyone, that I am mostly a very boring man. For the most part I have very low and predictable standards.
Take eating for example.
I’m a man that considers a good grilled cheese sandwich five-star dining and a single small carton of ice cream on Sunday evening virtual paradise.
And for me, “fun” is a quiet day of doing mostly nothing.
So for me, making the Golden Rule my standard for how I will treat people is going to cause me to disappoint a lot of people!
Take your mother, for example. An occasional grilled cheese sandwich and a weekly serving of ice cream is okay, but she has far greater expectations on average. We try to have a “date night” meal each week and if I take her to my favorite QT and order her a grilled cheese sandwich “mamma” is not going to be happy.
And for Sonja a “quiet day of doing nothing” is almost like a punishment.
Bottom line, if I truly want to enrich your mother’s life I must go beyond the golden rule and practice what I call the platinum rule: Do better/more than I want done to me.
You see, the pivotal word in the Golden Rule is “you.” When we live by the Golden Rule our own personal standards become the benchmark for how we treat others.
On the other hand, the person seeking to practice the Platinum Rule asks, “I wonder how the other person would like to be treated?”
When Jesus described the Golden Rule he described it this way: “for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12)
In other words, the Golden Rule is…well, a rule. It’s the minimal requirement. It is what holds civilization together. Keeps the streets and highways from becoming quagmires of traffic jams and confusion and our shopping centers, schools, and workplaces civil, and safe.
But Jesus describes His way far differently. He said: “I have come that you may have life and have it to the full.” (John 10:10)
That describes the Platinum rule.
The Platinum rule enriches and enlivens.
What do people want deeply? Of course they want order and civility. But deep down people long for life – to be loved and respected. They want to be validated, believed in, inspired, and cherished. They want abundant life.
I remember when you were a wee little girl and you’d be talking to me a mile a minute. When you felt like I wasn’t listening you would grab my face with both of your hands and turn my face towards yours.
What were you doing? You were asking me to practice the Platinum rule. You were asking me see you – really see you and to listen to you – really listen to you. You were asking, “Daddy do you love enough to stop what you’re doing and listen to me? Do you care about me enough to take me seriously?
Truth be known, we’re all asking those questions. We never outgrow them. That’s why the Platinum rule is so very important.
The ONE THING for today: Dear daughter, life is fragile and tenuous. Breath on those fragile sparks of life by practicing the Platinum rule. Turns out, that doing so not on enriches and enlivens others, it does the same for you. Love, your only daddy
