The Eloquent Peasant
A Peasant Good of SpeechAnd the High Steward Meru's son Rensi said, 'Are your belongings more important to you than my follower's seizing you?' And this peasant said, 'And the measurer of heaps now defrauds for himself; the measurer for others now despoils his surroundings; the lawful leader now commands theft - who then will beat off wretchedness when the dispeller of infirmity is going wrong? One man is exact about being crooked; another acclaims the evildoer. Do you not profit yourself thus? The redress is short, the evil long; yet good character returns to its place of yesterday. This is a command: Do good for the man who acts, to motivate him to act. This is thanking him for what he does; this is parrying a thing before shooting; this is commissioning something from a master craftsman. O for a moment that destroys, downfall in your bird-nets, loss in your fowl, waste in your marsh-birds!
Matthew 7:12
11 If you then, although you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 In everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you, for this fulfills the law and the prophets. 13 “Enter through the narrow gate because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
Notes and References
"... The passage of scripture on the ethic of reciprocity from Matthew parallels with some other passages of scripture and also some literatures in Judaism and Ancient Eastern Religions. The best known in Judaism is probably that of Rabbi Hillel or Hillel the Elder, who in giving an answer to a question from a proselyte who demanded a precise and good understanding of the law and the prophets: “That which displeases you do not do to another. This is the whole law, the rest is commentary”. In Brahmanism it is expressed thus: "This is the sum of Dharma: Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you". In Buddhism: state that is not pleasing or delightful to me, how could I inflict that upon another?" In Confucianism: "Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you". In Ancient Egyptian Religion: "Do for one who may do for you, that you may cause him thus to do." In Hinduism: “This is the sum of duty: do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you”. In Taoism: "The sage has no interest of his own, but takes the interests of the people as his own. He is kind to the kind; he is also kind to the unkind: for Virtue is kind. He is faithful to the faithful; he is also faithful to the unfaithful: for Virtue is faithful." Similar text is also found in the Old Testament in the book of Tobit 4:5: “Never do to anyone else anything that you would not want someone else to do to you”. As expressed in the gospel of Matthew 7:12, the Golden Rule is a summary of the law and the prophets: “This is the meaning of the law of Moses and of the teachings of the prophets”. This is attested to not only by the text itself but by the structure or arrangement of the passage 7:12 in relation to the preceding verses. 7:12 is presented as a summary of all that Jesus has been saying about living in relationship with one another as God's people ..."
Kanu, Ikechukwu Anthony The Ethic of Reciprocity as a Tactic for Restoring Human dignity vis-a-vis the experience of widows in Nigeria (pp. 265-273) International Journal of Research in Arts and Social Sciences, Vol. 3, 2011