We read in the Holy Scripture “…O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6: 8) In life, not all of us will be gifted with good parents, or a valued mentor, or even good friends that wish the best for us. Rather, to a large extent we are going to have to find our way in this world, and thus make it our point, to be the best person that we can be, by obtaining wisdom through the proper usage of our mind and by the experiences we so encounter, day by day.
The advantage of utilizing the Good Book is that not only is there valued wisdom within the words so written, but that this wisdom, is the type of knowledge which is often universal in its application and is thus of true relevance in this day and age for us. For instance, when we look at the passage of Micah 6: 8, we are given prudent instruction about what is good, of which the foundation of such is based upon being just and true one to another, in all that we say and do. In life, there are going to be all sorts of experiences that aren’t fair to us or others, which, oftentimes we can’t control, but what we can control is our interactions with those others, which gives us a fair opportunity to be fair and just to those others, which is definitely in harmony with the attributes of God.
So too, when it comes to justice, we find that society has had a rather troubled history of exacting justice that is done without mercy, and without consideration of “walking a mile in the other person’s shoes,” and because we do not care to empathize with the other, it thus makes it easier to exact the type of justice which is lacking nuance, mercy, or fairness, often because we do not see ourselves in the other person, even though, each of us is made out of the same substance. Those who practice mercy are those who care about the other because they recognize that each of us, no matter how lost, or even how great, has been created by the very same hand.
Lastly, we find that especially in Western societies, there is an emphasis on getting ahead of those others that we compete against, and thus of our earning the accouterments of success, so that we will be respected by others and thereby treated with what we feel that we deserve by having earned such by our accomplishments. Perhaps this is fine, but recognize that none of us start our respective lives at the same starting point, and further that the credit that we so often desire to own as ours completely, probably has had some significant contributors along the way of our journey that helped us to become good and valued citizens, and we owe it to them, to be a bit less proud, and hence a lot more humble in the consideration of our success.
Indeed, there is plenty of life advice out there for just about everyone, and those who go to that fount of wisdom are those who thus place themselves in the best position to achieve that which is most lasting and good.