I don’t have a list of rules for living kicking about the house, though I do have “The Desiderata” hanging on a wall in the garage. I just try to do the right thing. That’s it. “Do the right thing” is the principle that defines how I try to live.

I don’t always do it well: my PTSD is currently active and what that looks like is anger. A lot of it. I’m not sure about you, but I don’t do my best thinking when I’m angry.

I get a little selfish too. Justifications for my actions come more easily. None of that is the right thing.

Even when I’m not angry, I can be harsh with judgment and sentencing, especially when I’m convinced the convicted should’ve known better. Should’ve lived by better principles.

“The right thing” can become “the one true way” if you’re not careful.

I’m working on having more grace. Judgementalism is sometimes a response to being hurt, which makes it understandable, but still selfish and therefore wrong, though only in a venal kind of way.

It’s a good thing I don’t mind making apologies.

It’s a good thing I don’t mind personal growth.

We like semantics when it comes to the right thing, but if you live in this world, you know what the right thing is. Fundamentalism will corrupt the right thing and twist it for selfish purposes, and that’s a problem as fundamentalism seems to be on the rise everywhere, but the right thing doesn’t change because people are doing it wrong.

Society decided on defining principles aka all the right things not too long ago. They got together and hashed it out in 1948. The rules were written down in a document called, “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” It’s pretty good.

Too bad we suck at reading recipes.

The declaration is thirty articles long, thirty rules on how to create a good society and a good life. Not too onerous, but we can do better for those for whom thirty rules is a step too far.

And considering the state of the world, “too far” is a descriptor that can be applied to too many.

Luckily, there’s a simplified option. Most of the time, the right thing can be summed up in seven words, “harm none, and help when you can.”

It’s amazing that we struggle with something some simple.

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Header credit: Britannica

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