Treat others as if

… she is our friend who was born to grow old, become ill, and eventually die – together with us.

… he is our friend swimming around in the changing cycles of this life with us.

… she is under the power of defilement*, hence she sometimes errs. Just like us.

… he also has lust, hatred and delusion – no less than we do.

… she neither knows why she was born, nor knows what nirvana is; same as all of us.

… he is stupid in something like we often are.

… she does something accordingly to her own likes, the same as we often do.

… he also wants to be good, and has aspiration to be better, outstanding and famous. So do we.

… she often takes more from others when she has the chance, just like we sometimes do whether consciously or unconsciously.

… he feels the duty to be responsible to his own family, his friends, his “tribe”. Don’t we all?

… she has the right to her own tastes and preferences. The same goes for us.

… he has the right to be neurotic or mad, just as much as we do.

… she has the right to ask for help and sympathy from us, the same way we would ask for the same from others.

… he has the right to be forgiven according to the circumstance, as we do too.

… she has the right to be selfish before thinking about others as we would want the same right.

… he has the right to choose his religion, beliefs, political identity, etc. in accordance to his own disposition.

… and they have human rights to be in this world, like we all do.

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Adapted from the note I copied from the notice board at Suan Mokkh (the Buddhist monastery in Thailand)

(*) defilement in Buddhist concept is often defined as mental states that cloud our mind/judgment and cause us to produce unwholesome actions; generally categorized into three: attachment, ignorance and aversion.