What a Landlord, Apartment Manager, and Community Director Should be

The Accidental Landlord: By Dr. Danielle Babb, national real estate expert and author is also a fellow LPA member.

Have you ever heard of anyone becoming a landlord by "accident"? The Accidental Landlord is an excellent guide on how to make managing a rental property as easy as possible, whether you are an "accidental landlord" or an experienced real estate professional. In it, Danielle Babb presents to you in simple terms some of the finest proven techniques and forms used by professional landlords across the United States and Canada. In addition, The Accidental Landlord is full of time saving and money making ideas. She provides you with helpful internet sources to make your experience as a landlord easy and even fun. - John Nuzzolese, President of The Landlord Protection Agency

 

The Golden Rule

 

The maxim of the "golden rule" is exemplified in many Christian stories, such as the Parable of the Good Samaritan, which are unadorned replications of the Jewish Torah: "Love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD."(Leviticus 19:18 —NJPS)^[1]

The Golden Rule or ethic of reciprocity is a maxim,^[2] ethical code, or morality^[3] that essentially states either of the following:

• (Positive form): One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself.^[2]
• (Negative/prohibitive form, also called The Silver Rule): One should not treat others in ways that one would not like to be treated.

A key element of the Golden Rule is that a person attempting to live by this rule treats all people with consideration, not just members of his or her in-group. The Golden Rule has its roots in a wide range of world cultures, and is a standard way that different cultures use to resolve conflicts.^[2][4]

The Golden Rule has a long history, and a great number of prominent religious figures and philosophers have restated its reciprocal, bilateral nature in various ways (not limited to the above forms).^[2] As a concept, the Golden Rule has a history that long predates the term "Golden Rule" (or "Golden law", as it was called from the 1670s).^[2][5] The ethic of reciprocity was present in certain forms in the philosophies of ancient Babylon, Egypt, Persia, India, Greece, Judea, and China.^{[citation needed]}

Statements that mirror the Golden Rule appear in Ancient Egypt in the story of The Eloquent Peasant.^[6] Rushworth Kidder states that "the label 'golden' was applied by Confucius (551–479 B.C.), who wrote a version of the Silver Rule. Kidder notes that this framework appears prominently in many religions, including "Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, and the rest of the world's major religions",^[7] and Simon Blackburn states that the Golden Rule can be "found in some form in almost every ethical tradition".^[8]

Even though the Golden Rule certainly is part of the concept of reciprocity, one thing that separates and distinguishes it from the Silver Rule and other similar concepts of reciprocity is that, whereas the Silver Rule simply serves as a prohibition against negative action, the Golden Rule actually serves as a motivation toward positive action. As Dr. Frank Crane put it, "The Golden Rule is of no use to you whatsoever unless you realize that it's your move!"^[9]

The Golden Rule is arguably the most essential basis for the modern concept of human rights, in which each individual has a right to just treatment, and a reciprocal responsibility to ensure justice for others.^[10]

The notion that the Golden Rule pertains to "rights" per se is a contemporary interpretation and has nothing to do with its origin. The development of human "rights" is a modern political ideal that began as a philosophical concept promulgated through the philosopy of Jean Jacques Rousseau in 18th century France, among others. His writings influenced Thomas Jefferson, who then incorporated Rousseau's reference to "inalienable rights" into the Declaration of Independence. To confuse the Golden Rule with human rights is to apply contemporary thinking to ancient concepts.