The Second Golden Rule

If in the past you have received compassion, then as you live your life in the future, you have the obligation, as you have the means, to give compassion to others in need.

Compassion received should later be Compassion given.

As a teenager, you may become aware of how your present life might have been much different without the direct compassion given to you or without the indirect compassion given to your parents or perhaps grandparents. Immediately in a small way, you should show kindness to others in need. Later, you may have the fortune to have an education and a successful career. The more successful, the more should be your obligation to show compassion to others in need.

Or in another word: Grace received should later be Grace given.

The First Problem:

Given our egos and belief in self-sufficiency, we may be reluctant to follow this rule.

The Second Problem:

A child or teenager may have no idea of the compassion given by others to their parents that has made their life so pleasant.

Grace needs a chance to be passed forward. Parents and grandparents at the appropriate time need to tell their children of the grace they have received from others. For example: “If Aunt Sally hadn’t helped us so much with the second mortgage on this house two years ago, we would have had to move into an apartment across town, and you would have to attend a high school with a bad reputation.”