Good Intentions

Is politeness more self-serving than selfless? According to Mead’s Play Stage, we should do unto other as we would have them do unto us. That selfish thinking will leave us with a lot of assumptions and not much by way of real relationships. If I only act toward others the way I want to be acted, then I’m trying to turn everyone into me. I’m imposing my values and ideals and preferences on other people, all in the name of “Well, that’s what I would want.” We make the ‘me,’ or what we want from others, more important than the ‘I,’ how we really believe we should act.