When life gives you a hard time, appeal higher. On the school playground, kindly obey. Make the rude teacher’s day better by making the principal proud.
By preparing your appeal to higher authorities, you free your mental energies to act with charity toward those closer to you. Live to serve the king and forget the offenses of your immediate supervisors. Even an ill mannered cop is easier to deal with if you imagine yourself on TV “out-kinding” him. You might already be on camera anyway and if you either act super-kindly or super-unruly, you might end up on TV anyway. So, smile for the crowd and forget the foe in front of you. Besides, with a wider lens and sugar with a cherry on top, your foe could become your friend anyway.
The higher appeal will serve you well in the long run. A landlord, employer, magistrate, sheriff, trade partner, and anyone with powers to dangle over your head may try twisting your arm and lord their strength over you. It’s sad, but normal. Don’t get bent out of shape about it. And, if you play the long game—the end game—you may court friends and authorities much more powerful than they could contend with. But, you only find those higher appeals through wider and longer lenses.
One of the highest appeals is to public opinion. No organization’s or nation’s president is ever bigger than the organization or nation. The people at large are always the highest appeal to make.
Then, there is the supreme appeal to God. But, in a sense, God Himself appeals to the people. He does not impose His good rules on us. It’s up to each of us to welcome Him. Even God appeals to the public, on some level. But, His appeal to the public is so strong and convincing, whenever we find a good idea, we celebrate it. Sometimes we even give God credit for good ideas, even though they all belong to Him.
So, make the higher appeal to God by appealing to the public how He does. Don’t ask the public to teach you right from wrong; appeal to the public. There is a difference.