Department of Compassionate Services

A brief time ago, in a land not unlike this one, there lived a bear named Nod. Bears are compassionate animals, and Nod was a most compassionate bear. Unlike most animals that have some empathy for others, bears have the active desire to alleviate another being's suffering. Bears express their social altruism in the golden rule, the first rule of bears, "Do for others as you would wish them to do for you."

Not all animals follow the golden rule, but all animals suppose that they do. Over time the golden rule has become the basis of the social and ethical laws by which all animals live. Accordingly, the rule creates an illusion of cooperation and freedom for all where none exists.