[July 15, 2023] I entered the U.S. Army in the summer of 1974 as a Private. I was about to learn the meaning of life’s most important principle, and it was not what I thought it was. Like many other recruits, I was physically out of shape when I joined and had a negative outlook on life. That was about to change. Army Drill Sergeants would use the Golden Rule as it was meant to be applied.
Psychologist Carl Jung (1875-1961) said that the Golden Rule means to treat your neighbor as you would like to be treated, but that the rule is not a command to be nice and compassionate to people. The rule is an invitation to figure out how you would like to be treated – as if you were taking care of yourself properly (that is no easy task) – and treating people properly.
His understanding meant that the Golden Rule was about finding what others needed to make lasting improvements to themselves.
The Golden Rule is about challenging others, showing them where they went wrong, giving them opportunities to choose different but difficult rewarding paths in life, showing them how to be stronger, smarter, and more professional, and teaching them to care for themselves, their family, and their community today, tomorrow, and into the distant future. That is what most people are confused about when it comes to applying the Golden Rule.
If you are following the Golden Rule, being nice and compassionate to others is just pathetic, and there is no value or reward in being pathetic. Having people fawn over you and lay everything at your feet is no solution. No one would want that for very long. Besides, who wants to drink margaritas on the beach for more than a day? Eventually, you get bored and want to do something else, even break things if you’re bored enough drinking those margaritas.
In the Army, the Drill Sergeants were tough sons of bitches, and they took your weaknesses as an opportunity to make you stronger. They understood what needed to be done to make us raw recruits into Soldiers. Their methods were harsh, often painful, and not what we wanted. They use proven, strong, uncompromising methods because they know that people like us recruits will not do what is necessary to make ourselves a better Soldier.
The fact is, many of us did not like ourselves for a variety of reasons. We are foolish and make mistakes and can become bitter, prone to temptation, weak, vulnerable, and self-conscious, and we know that we should not be that way. And we know ourselves well enough to know that we also have a streak of evil in us. We know this because we know who we are.
This is why their rules are simple, and those rules work. Drill Sergeant rules are, for example, to do what you are told to do. Do what you are told, no matter what you think or want. Do it, period. Then, maybe just maybe, you can become a worthwhile Soldier. The Drill Sergeants are applying the Golden Rule in the way it was intended. You might just hate it. And the Drill Sergeants are certainly not nice or compassionate about it, but it is precisely what you need.
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Gen. Sattefield, this article is one of your very best. It tells us alot about what The Golden Rule is, and is not. The latter is what you should be emphasizing. I love the GOlden Rule because it means others are helping me do things and think the right way, and making me a better person …. The fact of the matter is that this is very very hard on me and, well, that is okay.
This is one of your most thought provoking articles.
One of the best articles explaining the Golden Rule that I have ever read. 👀
Do to others what you want them to do to you. This is the meaning of the law of Moses and the teaching of the prophets.
— Matthew 7:12
Very well done. A twist on an old idea.
Excellent article today. One of your best that made me think.
Got that right Stacey.
Yep. ❤
Great job my friend
What the drill Sergeant were teaching you were teamwork. Teamwork make the dream work. In battle there is strength in unity. Individuals doing their own things lead to lose lifes and battle. Same thing happens in life. You are only as strong as the weakest link.
The Drill Sergeants are applying the Golden Rule in the way it was intended. You might just hate it. And the Drill Sergeants are certainly not nice about it, but it is precisely what you need.
Thank you, Gen. Satterfield for your article today that makes lots of sense.
Let’s not forget this article that makes the same point, “The Golden Rule is Not About Being Nice”
https://www.theleadermaker.com/the-golden-rule-is-not-about-being-nice/
Hi Julia. Gen. Satterfield’s main point that the Golden Rule has been perverted into something it was not meant to be is the takeaway.
“Psychologist Carl Jung (1875-1961) said that the Golden Rule means to treat your neighbor as you would like to be treated, but that the rule is not a command to be nice to people. The rule is an invitation to figure out how you would like to be treated – as if you were taking care of yourself properly (that is no easy task) – and treating people properly.” – General Satterfield. Spot on para.
Hey, folks, before the new folks move to another leadership blog, be sure to pick up your copy of one or both of Gen. Satterfield’s books. And give them away to your best friends and family members to read. Put them in your library, etc. That is how we can spread the word for a better world.
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
YES! 🙏
Rev and Oakie, this is, of course, the reason we read this wonderful and enlightening blog from Gen. Satterfield and the reason I have been a long-time reader.
Thanks all for reading this blog and for getting copies of Gen. Satterfield’s books
“55 Rules for a Good Life”
“Our Longest Year in Iraq”
👀👀👀👀👀👀
I never thought of the Golden Rule this way.
Another hit from Gen. Satterfield. 😀
JT, good to hear from you again and yes, I do believe that Gen. Satterfield has made some changes that are for us all and made thing clearer, at least for me, he has. I would also note that his recent series addition of “Letters to my granddaughter” is a big plus. Not a plus because Gen. S. will be attracting more female readers, that is a given, but because he is setting a standard for how we treat and educate our grandchildren and our responsibilies to do so.
Good points here Nick. I agree that we do have responsibilities to more than just our immediate spouse and children and that means marriage, kids, taking care of them, our extended family, and community.
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Got that right.
Great article, Gen. Satterfield. I hope you blog keeps on going for years. And, I gave a copy of “55 Rules for a Good Life” to a friend and she is enjoying it.
The US Army discriminates because it needs good men and women who are willing and ABLE to fight for our nation. The Army – like the other services – does not need crazy “trans” folks who are mentally ill sucking up the resources and trying to convert the children of servicemembers into images of themselves.
Right, narcissists need not apply.
Yeah, the army does teach a lot of good things but you also have to be able to get in and then stay in.