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Help Yourself, Help Others

gmanyo

sswwwaagggg
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Messages
275
MBTI Type
ENTP
I was wondering what people's opinions were about how to treat others. Not just in passing, but to what level are we responsible to be loving towards others? Should we go out of our way to help and love everyone? If someone hates you, how should you treat them? Should you concentrate on your family and friends? How should we treat people who are jerks to us and others? What about people that are annoying or difficult to be around? Are we first and foremost responsible for ourselves, or should we put others above us?
 

Coriolis

Si vis pacem, para bellum
Staff member
Joined
Apr 18, 2010
Messages
27,195
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
5w6
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
We are first and foremost responsible for our own selves. After all, if we don't take responsiblity for meeting our own needs, can we reasonably expect someone else to do it? We should not expect to meet our needs at someone else's expense, though, unless it is unavoidable, as when we hurt an attacker while trying to defend ourselves. At best, we can help others as we meet our own needs.

Our next responsibility is to our family. Again, if we don't do this, who do we expect will? Some relatives won't need or want help. Some might get help from friends or other non-relatives. But barring serious estrangement or abuse situations, we should help them when they need it. On a par with this is close friends or a SO. If we enter a relationship by choice, we should hold up our end of it by caring for the other person and being there when they need us.

More broadly, we owe everyone at large two things. (1) To care for the world we all live in, and behave as a responsible neighbor, coworker, citizen, etc. This includes things like not wasting resources, cleaning up our messes, following the rules/laws that smooth daily interactions, etc. (2) Treating everyone with a basic level of respect and civility. Yes, we owe this even to difficult people or outright jerks. We can (usually) draw the line without acting like jerks ourselves. If we do violate (1) or (2), it should be for a damned good reason, and we should be ready to face the consequences.
 
G

Ginkgo

Guest
Only under controlled circumstances are people truly responsible for one another. Will is too independent, though some have a track record of being easily manipulated. I find myself oscillating between egalitarianism and sizing people up in unequal light. I think I've found a sweet spot by recognizing that people have more similarities than differences, and those differences aren't but tiny accents on each of us when we are pretty much all the same. However, they are blown out of scale when we factor in our achievements and how they are meant to equate with our abilities.

Understanding->Acceptance->Approval->Respect
Understanding->Acceptance->Love
 

Trunks

I'm not Trunks
Joined
Feb 1, 2012
Messages
333
I treat everyone equally regardless of their age, status, and gender. Thus, if they deserved it..If they don't like me, I'll just pretend or ignored them.
 
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