I sat this morning and saw headline after headline of India and Indians being targeted abroad.
In America, Trump’s tariffs, visa upheavals and deportations hit businessmen and students. In England, placards scream against “outsiders.” In Australia and Ireland, fists and words are raised against Indians. And as I watch our community reeling under these blows, a verse from the Holy Scriptures ring loud in my ears: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Let me ask: who are these “others”?
Foreigners? Or our very own neighbors—those within our borders who today are being made to feel like outsiders in their own land?
I don’t think we have to search far for the answer. Look around. See the words of hate thrown at Muslims, the suspicion cast on Christians, the everyday cold shoulder turned toward those seen as “different.” Imagine being told—subtly and openly—that you don’t quite belong. And then, as if scripted by some cosmic director, Indians abroad now hear the same words. “You don’t belong here.”
The circle is complete.
It’s strange, isn’t it? We cry foul when our sons and daughters are deported, but remain silent when our neighbors are denied a sense of belonging. We raise our voices against unfair tariffs strangling our traders, yet watch as businessmen back home are boycotted simply because of their faith. We grumble about others treating us as second-class, yet fail to notice the second-class treatment we mete out in our very own backyard.
The irony is delicious, if it weren’t so tragic. We, the victims abroad, are also the aggressors at home. The bruises we now show the world are the very same we inflict on our fellow citizens. It’s as though history—or maybe God Himself—has arranged a mirror before us. “You don’t like being singled out?” the mirror asks. “Then why do you single out others?”
There’s a lesson here, if only we’d stop shouting long enough to listen: The Golden Rule is practical politics. It’s sound economics. It’s plain survival. Treat others the way you’d like to be treated, and you won’t need to send special envoys abroad begging for mercy. You won’t need to negotiate tariffs on bended knee.
Because justice will already be glowing right here.
So, dear leaders, before you unleash another wave of hate speeches or whisper another divisive law, pause. Think of that IT professional or student being sent home from America, of that trader struggling under tariffs, of that worker shoved in an Irish pub.
Their pain is the echo of the pain you’ve allowed to fester here.
And to you and me—ordinary citizens—it’s time we made the Golden Rule more than just a verse. Time we stretched it across caste, creed, and community, like a protective canopy. Because today we are seeing that the way we treat “others” is the way the world is treating us.
Treat this not as advice, but as prophecy…!
The Author conducts an online, eight session Writers and Speakers Course. If you’d like to join, do send a thumbs-up to WhatsApp number 9892572883 or send a message to bobsbanter@gmail.com
