Don't be a jerk. Don't dump your trash on the road. Don't park in the handicap space if you aren't handicapped. Don't drive drunk. Don't smoke around gas pumps. Just don't be a jerk. Jerks think first and foremost about themselves and what they want. They are insensitive to the feelings and welfare of others. Jerks put their own convenience, their own wishes, and their own pleasures ahead of what others need or think. Being a jerk is basically the opposite of being a decent human being.
Does the word "jerk" have a masculine ring to your ears? Maybe so. But I have seen my share of female jerks. Society merely calls them different names. And just as self-centered behavior is not limited to one gender, it isn't limited to the non-religious either. Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, and Buddhist jerks abound as well. "Reverends" who are unfaithful to their wives are jerks. I shudder when reporters refer to one of them as "the Reverend" So-'n-So. Televangelists who solicit contributions from poor widows and spend the money on big houses and fancy cars for themselves are jerks; they are not even genuine Christians because what they are doing has no relation to the anti-materialistic teachings of Jesus.
As I look at the world of yesterday and today--at civil war in Africa, poverty in Central America, injustice at home, and corruption just about everywhere--I see the accumulative influence of many jerks in key positions of power. As I observe single-parent families, recreational drug abuse, and obscene salary differentials between management and labor, I behold the ravages of selfishness. Always looking out for self rather than for others strikes me as the root of all evil. The love of money simply provides a special case in point. Being a jerk constitutes the foundation of immorality and unethical behavior. So, don't be a jerk--whether for heaven's sake or for humanity's--just don't be a jerk.