In Holy Scripture we read at Luke 6:31 the words of our Savior: "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise," which is one of Christ's two-part commandment, with the other part being to love our God with all of our heart. Previously, Moses gave us the Ten Commandments as dictated to him by the word of God, in which, most of these commandments are in the form of a negative, such as: "Thou Shalt not…", in fact, even a commandment such as "Honor thy father and mother," implies within it, that "thou shalt not dishonor them". While there is validity in presenting a commandment as a positive affirmation as compared to a negative prohibition, perhaps with people being as stubborn and difficult as they have a habit of being, a negative commandment, carries with it, more weight, and thereby is perceived as more definitive with far less wiggle room, for those that like to perceive laws, even God-given laws, as shades of gray.
In point of fact, there is something to be said, in taking Christ's great commandment, and re-translating it into "don't do unto others what you don't want them to do to you," because the positive affirmation of doing unto others as you would like those to do onto you, could be conceivably interpreted in a somewhat self-serving manner, whereas the commandment with the negative connotation, leaves far less opportunity for evasiveness. For example, if you don't like people that lie, cheat, bully, and steal, then don't be those very same things, yourself. On the other hand, if you don't mind someone that has a little larceny in their heart, not so much because that's what you want or want to do, but because it's amusing and intriguing to see people get fooled, including yourself, as long as it is in a good-natured way, it's a little bit harder to get that to fit into do unto others, whereas, it fits okay with the it's okay to fool someone, as long as it's done in an entertaining way and has no real or dire consequences.
When the don't do unto others, becomes a mindset within a person's personality, it does great wonders, because it forces that person to actually think through the consequences of their proposed actions, and thereby encourages them to see the world not just by their own eyes, but also through the other person's eyes; so too, it eliminates the "eye for an eye" mentality, for there are few people that believe in actuality that wrong actions should be answered in kind, as opposed to at least considering that there are other more reasonable responses that can help to ameliorate a given wrong.
It is important for people to start with the right attitude to begin with, so that a statement as straightforward and as reasonable as to not do the things to others that you would not want done to yourself, is something that virtually everyone, even at very young ages, would understand, along with the fact that it is something that should be taught and practiced by all, for if this philosophy is lived in reality, the world, in response, would be more caring, more loving, and a better place overall to be a part of, for truly we are all in this, together, desiring that all receive justice and fairness, equally.