Jazz Tenor Saxophonist Sonny Rollins: “I found the Golden Rule again” – 2022

Sonny Rollins:

Even though I can’t blow my horn anymore, I can still think and do my music in my head. I’m grateful for that. Music is so great, and so great to me. However, this stupid crazy world won’t go away and give me my peace. That was until I found out how to deal with the stupidity of it all. I found something I’ve known about all my life. I found the Golden Rule again. Most people have heard about the Golden Rule but never really focused on it. Never really checked it out. Here is what the Golden Rule did for me:

I’m not about trying to get over on somebody else by lying, cheating, or stealing from them. As the Golden Rule says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Okay?

I’ve had people lying, cheating, and stealing on me. We all have. And I didn’t like it. So doing it back to someone was not an option. My life changed when I began accepting the Golden Rule. Every endeavor became a positive endeavor. My world became positively positive. I began to understand that everything in life doesn’t start and end with me! “I have to get mine first, and never mind anyone else.”

This kind of thinking makes you an unhappy, ignorant person—just as I was. Look, the Golden Rule is a start. I am learning every day, and now I can do my music mind with my Golden Rule mind. So far so good for me. It’s all good.