Hey Scrooge, don't you just hate being so smart?

Just kidding, it’s not that hard being so smart, it is great.

Ok, just kidding again, but I hope I got your attention.

You, like me and countless other cool people and otherwise progressive thinkers, have to deal with a world who accepts that things can be wrong. Some people actually fail and even expect it.

How can they live that way?

As a smart person, you have to fight these arrogant imbeciles “tooth and nail” to succeed. Your superior intellect will take you to the top always seeking the best and most correct path, while they find the one “less traveled”.

Failure is not an option! Failure is for those of a lesser mind set who accept the losses and find peace in their willingness to be wrong.

It is those monkey brains who enjoy their weekends, have a social calendar, and most importantly of all, tend to “forgive” their other cro-magnum failure prone friends.

I hate these people.

Friends? Huh, who needs them?

Happiness? Bah Humbug…what a joke.

“Forgiveness”?

Hmmm.

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 We have all heard the stories of Thomas Edison who failed at creating the light bulb over 1,000 times. When questioned, he simply replied he did not fail, he just proved 1,000 paths that did not work.

My favorite tennis star of the 1970’s was Vitas Gerulaitus, who lost 16 times in a row to Jimmy Connors before he won a match. When he did, he is famous for saying “Let that be a lesson to you all, no one beats Vita Gerulaitus 17 times in a row!”

Bill Gates (Traf-O-Data), Albert Einstein (speechless until he was 4 years old), Jim Carrey (homeless and living in a car at 15), Benjamin Franklin (dropped out of school at 10), and Richard Branson (dyslexic), even Stephen King (first novel was rejected 30 times) all have one thing in common.

Failure?

Nope.

Forgiveness?

Yes.

These incredibly successful and intelligent people tell a wonderful story. It is a story of hard work, determination, and most importantly, forgiveness.

Interesting and as always, there is something different to investigate.

Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., Pope John Paul II, are famous for their super human ability to forgive those who hurt them, but what about those who forgive themselves?

Incredibly successful people have the ability to do just that, they forgive themselves and move forward. They never dwell on something that went wrong, they simply ask themselves: “What did we do right?” and “What do we need to do better next time?”.

One of the great secrets to success is simply that – forgive others, forgive yourself.

The elite have this mastered, and in the end find the happiness they so desperately seek.

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 The “Golden Rule” has to be one of the most misquoted lines in all of history. When you ask someone, you can almost predict their response, and with 99% certainty, they will be wrong.

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Right or Wrong?

You guessed it. Wrong.

The proper quote in original translation, and the one that makes the most sense, is this:

“Do unto others as they would have you do unto them.”

Read it again…see the difference now?

For a rule to exist that says you have to treat people the way you want to be treated is incredibly selfish and I am quite sure that was not the intent. It never was.

Here’s my example: say your best friend helped you out this past weekend. He worked all day helping you and sweated his tail off loading boxes into your new home. At the end of the day you were both starving so you decided to take him out to your favorite steak restaurant. It was a world class joint that only served the best aged steak. It was the best in town and your favorite place, so you wanted to treat him to something special.

When you get there, he is polite but seems a little off kilter. When you ask him if he ready to enjoy the meal, he politely dodges the question. So you press for an answer and he confesses…he is a vegetarian.

Hmmm.

So, you treated him to your favorite steak restaurant and he is a vegetarian.

What’s wrong with him? Nothing.

What’s wrong with you? Everything, you didn’t know the “Golden Rule.” If you did, you would have treated him the way HE would have wanted to be treated, not yourself (i.e. the veggie bar down the street). If you had, he would have been gloriously rewarded, and you both would be happy and fulfilled.

You see, we need to treat people the way they want to be treated, not how we want to be treated. The real “Golden Rule” had it right all along, we just morphed it a bit to fit our desired outcome.

No wonder so many gifts are returned after Christmas, a lot of people failed to follow the rule.

____ ____ ____

So back to all those cro-magnum friends who are clearly not that smart but seem to have a happy life.

What’s the common denominator?

Why do they always seem to fail and bounce back?

Why are they so happy?

Could it be “Forgiveness”?

Forgiveness of whom?

Simple: Others first, then yourself.

They forgive others so they can move on (Nelson Mandela, John Paul II, MLK Jr.).

They forgive themselves so they can change the world (make your own list).

The key to a happy life is actually the ability to forgive.

Isn’t that how you (and others) would want to be treated?

That’s a rule I can follow, and it is “golden” for a reason.