Spring is the time of the year that  many men and women are called upon to challenge the high school and college graduates  about their future.

A few of the speakers will be famous.  They are well-known to the financial, political, entertainment, business, military, judicial, or religious world.

The Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court was one of those  individuals who was asked to address Cardigan Mountain School located in New Hampshire.  It was a very unusual address on several levels.

• The school is an all boys school.
• His son was one of the graduates.
• The student-body  were in grades six through nine.
• The title of the address was as surprising as the content.

The title  — “I Wish You Bad Luck”

“Now the commencement speakers will typically also wish you good luck and extend good wishes to you. I will not do that, and I’ll tell you why. From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly, so that you will come to know the value of justice. I hope that you will suffer betrayal because that will teach you the importance of loyalty. Sorry to say, but I hope you will be lonely from time to time so that you don’t take friends for granted.

I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time, so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either. And when you lose, as you will from time to time, I hope every now and then, your opponent will gloat over your failure. It is a way for you to understand the importance of sportsmanship. I hope you’ll be ignored so you know the importance of listening to others, and I hope you will have just enough pain to learn compassion. Whether I wish these things or not, they’re going to happen. And whether you benefit from them or not will depend upon your ability to see the message in your misfortunes.

Justice Roberts’ address may contain some of the finest words of advice to those who have so many years ahead of them.   The importance of justice, loyalty, sportsmanship, and compassion is best learned early.

Roberts understands that all too often it is not until we experience the pain of disloyalty, injustice, a gloating winner, loneliness, or failure that we grasp the value of the opposing virtues.  When the script is flipped, then we understand — and the “then” may be after we have failed at some of those virtues.

His  advice is best known as “The Golden Rule.” –“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  or “Love your neighbor as you love yourself”

Flip the script!

Put yourself into that situation and ask,  –“What would you want done if it was you — or if it was your  daughter/son, husband/wife, grandchild, or brother/sister?”

Flip the Script:  What would you want to be said or done if it was you who. . . .

• was in the hospital
• had lost a spouse, child, or loved one
• needed financial help
• lost your job
• dealt with chronic health issues

Flip the Script!

John Rawls says it this way. Imagine that we sit behind a curtain.  We have to make a decision without knowing who sits on the other side of the curtain.  It could be a stranger or your son or daughter.  What would our response or decision be not knowing who is affected and perhaps affecting your life and living?

The next time you feel that hurt which comes from …..

• being abandoned in your time of honest need
• realizing that they were only false friends who feigned friendship
• experiencing true injustice and
• grasping how disingenuous those words of care and concern were
• giving so much and now being faced with “could care less” ness

. . .  remember how it feels.  Then, flip the script and commit yourself to treating others as you yourself wished and wanted others to do towards you.

Respond, make decisions, institute policies, carry out guidelines, follow procedures and/or treat others as if it was us or someone we deeply loved who was on the other side of the curtain.

In life and living, when you experience the pain of unkindness, injustice, hard-heartedness, insensitivity, miserliness, disloyalty, or selfishness, remember how it felt and then . . .

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.

Flip the Script and show the love of Christ!