How The Golden Rule Interprets ‘Black Lives Matter’ vs. ‘Blue Lives Matter’

 Adapted from Excerpts of ‘A Yearn To Discern’ and the Personal Essay on The Golden Rule by R. L. Maco

The Golden Rule is rather simple: I will respect you and you respect me. Period! This Rule does not take into consideration your race, gender, ethnicity, sexual preference, education, culture, social status, or anything else. If we were to take into account anything other than the one common denominator that we are all human beings, we now enter that slippery slope of leaving the realm of objectivity and entering the realm of subjectivity. Leaving the realm of objectivity is wrong because now we are creating a false narrative. The fact that we are all human is the one and only fact we share together; it is our universal connector. Adding subjective considerations onto The Golden Rule only serve to validate some at the expense of others. 

However, if we leave the subjectivity out of the equation, and, therefore, choose to Discern, we would use The Golden Rule and take into account the only relevant pieces of information that make up this Rule, which are the following: 

1. We are all human, and

2. All human life should be treated with Respect and Dignity.

Do you understand how we could change the world just by simply following this Rule in our daily lives?! This Rule should be applied in both our professional and personal relationships. For example, take the current pandemic we are facing. Some individuals had to shift their mindset and learn to respect employees in the food service industry once our dining options were limited. When that happened, suddenly, many began respecting and revering food deliverers more than ever before and were happy to see them in a way they never did before. But the truth is, the pizza delivery person, the sanitation worker, and all other employees in-between, should be respected just as much as professionals such as doctors, lawyers, politicians, and the like. Why? Because, once again, we are all human. 

The professional titles we hold are distractors as it relates to the respect we should give one another. For example, take the phrase ‘Black Lives Matter’. That phrase was meant to convey the message that certain lives, Black Lives in this case, matter just as much as all other lives. You need to understand that there is an implied message within the ‘Black Lives Matter’ mantra that ‘All Lives Matter’ because across the board we are referring to human lives. The phrase acts as a reminder that these lives matter too, not that they matter more than or to the exclusion of other lives...this is also why there is no need to respond to the phrase ‘Black Lives Matter’ by saying ‘All Lives Matter’. That message is already incorporated into the intended meaning. The phrase ‘Black Lives Matter’ simultaneously makes a statement that these particular lives are not being respected and that these lives should be respected just as much as other lives are respected. In other words, the underlying message of ‘Black Lives Matter’ IS that all human life matters. 

Now, contrast the phrase ‘Black Lives Matter’ with the phrase ‘Blue Lives Matter’ and note that there is a difference. The difference is that while ‘Black Lives Matter’ focuses on human lives (black and all other lives), ‘Blue Lives Matter’ seeks to highlight certain lives who hold a particular professional title. The message is that these individuals who work in this profession should be respected. Unfortunately, this positioning is problematic because, remember: professional titles we hold are distractors as it relates to the respect we should give one another. Now let me pause right here to ask this question: Do law enforcement officers matter? You better believe they do! We should all respect police officers, security officers, correction officers, first responders and all who work in law enforcement, 100 percent! But let’s be crystal clear here: individuals who work in law enforcement matter and should be respected because they are human, not because of the employment position they hold. So, in effect, when you create the phrase ‘Blue Lives Matter’ in response to ‘Black Lives Matter’ you are creating a false narrative by elevating the reasoning why we should respect certain individuals based upon their position and not their life. When we do that, we create tension and we’re now in the slippery slope of subjectivity; and as I’ve stated before, once we begin adding subjective factors to lives, we change the narrative and we will not find common ground. This is dangerous. We should respect each other without condition simply because we are all human beings. And we certainly should not wait until a pandemic is thrust upon us to realize this fact. This is why The Golden Rule is Golden! The Golden Rule elevates us all, not a chosen few. If we follow The Golden Rule, we realize and understand that we are all deserving of dignity and respect as human beings and not because of any other factor we decide to add on to that fact.