“There is nothing new under the sun.” If he had never made another statement, this comment would have proven Solomon’s wisdom. Each generation goes to great lengths to convince itself that their generation is the worst and most depraved one yet. But the fact is human nature is pretty predictable. Conflict among humans has been around as long as there have been humans.

In frontier days men challenged each other to gun fights. Now it’s two angry people in traffic, snarling at one another and speeding through an intersection. Or, it’s just one more three-month Hollywood marriage in divorce court with the couple parading their private war before an insatiable public. Or, it’s a nation that les ten million civil lawsuits annually—many taking more than two years to adjudicate. It’s simply human nature to be…human.

Stephen Moyers said it this way, “Conflict is drama, and how people deal with conflict shows you what kind of people they are.”

Ultimately the key to successful living is the realization that I am a free agent. Just because others elect to behave badly—doesn’t mean I have to follow suit. Successful people are those rare individuals that learn to ignore the immediate gratification of doing unto others as they do unto us. And, instead, follow the Carpenter who taught that we should “do unto others as we would have them do unto us.”