Confucius, an ancient Chinese philosopher, believed the first lesson to teach a child had to do with discipline, honesty and being nice — the greatest of all human virtues.

Those 10 magical words — “Treat other people the way you want to be treated” — still ring true today. I am always baffled when people, including myself, had to take diversity classes to understand different cultures. Most of the time people didn’t want to be there. It seemed to cause more harm than good.

What it did do is highlight the differences at the expense of similarities in people.

America is a country, but being an American is as much of an idea as it is a place. Few if any other countries pass out bilingual ballots, or provide interpreters, instead of making sure that people understand how to speak English. What a novel concept.

A common language is one of the ideas that helps keep this country cohesive.

Unfortunately, the politically-correct crowd of elites think they are doing all of us a favor by having us take diversity classes. This is the same crowd that thinks people who are Christians are weak-willed and if they were just a little smarter, they wouldn’t have to depend on some unseen force.

Let’s call that force God for the sake of argument.

They want us to believe that good and evil are relative terms instead of absolutes, and that most conservatives are probably from some place in West Virginia. A majority of Americans believe there is something wrong in this country. There’s a certain uneasiness — I don’t mean being ripped off by Big Oil or the war in Iraq, but something more fundamental — a lot closer to home. It seems that the goal posts keep moving and rules keep changing at the expense of the tried and true.

However, as usual, being an American means to believe in the possible — that ultimately, good will triumph over evil and always does in the end.

America, for all its faults, is a land of second chances.

Henry Ward Beecher once said it is not what we read, but what we remember that makes us learn. And it is not what we intend, but what we do, that makes us useful. And it is not a few faint wishes, but a lifelong struggle that makes us courageous.

In the final analysis, I struggle to stay true to the Golden Rule just like a lot of us.

But in the end, it is our adherence to those 10 words that make our faith in ourselves — and in our children and in this country — worthwhile.

No excuses.

Walter Backstrom is a Federal Way resident. Contact: wkbackstrom@aol.com.