People Are Humans Too

Lately I've spent a lot of time studying my dog Teddy. Dogs are MUCH smarter than you might think. They can sense your moods and react accordingly. Teddy knows when I want to pet him, and when I'm going to scream at him for digging another hole in the yard. When he's in trouble, his little ears sink and he runs around in a circle thinking, "Oh man, here it comes." If Teddy is smothered with love for a week, he becomes lovable. When he's screamed at for scratching up the door or using his step sister for a play toy, well, he becomes stressed out.

People are the same way. Humans seem to play the role prepared for them. If you treat someone like an inferior, they will become inferior. If you treat someone like a criminal, they become a criminal. If you treat someone with respect, they will become respectable. If you honor someone, they will become honorable.

I bring this up because we live in a world full of arrogance and ignorance. We slight people and make others feel second class simply because we are ignorant or we don't care. That's arrogance. We scream about the terrorism in the Middle East and the crime in the inner cities. We declare entire groups of people as enemies without even thinking why.

If we subjugate groups of people, support the monarchies that enslave them, and take their resources for our SUVs, they will get angry. If we are perceived as taking sides with the Jews, if our U.S.-made missiles are used blow up fellow Arabs in their cars, or in their sleep, there will be a lingering anger.

If you treat a man like a terrorist, he becomes a terrorist. If you suggest that a billion people are going to hell because they are the wrong religion, they will sense that. They will sense that they are second-class humans and they will fill that role. If a U.S. Christian leader calls the prophet of one of the world's main religions a "demon-possessed pedophile," well, you are demeaning a billion people.

"Some Muslims want to allegorize their own scriptures because they don't want to defend jihad," Emir said. "But if you take the Koran at its word, or Muhammad at his word, then you'll find physical jihad." In fact, he noted, the highest level of Muslim heaven – which has 70 perpetual virgins on couches – is reserved for Muslims who "shed their blood" (Hadith 135). Islam's inclination toward violence, he added, also is reflected in the Koran: "Slay the enemy where you find him" (Surah 9.92).

Makes perfect sense, right? The only problem is this statement is written by a Muslim turned Christian, who has an agenda, and who is now being used by the Christian Right to perpetuate their campaign against the Muslims. Whatever happened to the love? And of course, "tolerance" is a dirty word only uttered by those evil U.S. LIBERALS who collude with the hell-bound Muslims. And most importantly, whatever happened to the RESPECT?

Our enemies attack us because we have made them feel inferior.

But oh great Western White Man, do not worry. You have the right religion, you have the money, and with the barrel of your tank, you can get your barrel of oil. You have the morality, you have the gunships, you have the Humvees, you have God on your side, you have nice clothes, you have McDonald's drive-thrus on every corner. My God, White Man, you have it all.

Maybe if we showed love, respect, and understanding for others in this world, the schism of our own evil and hatred would not manifest itself in the form of terrorism. Maybe if we treated the rest of the world as well as our dogs, we wouldn't have all the problems we're facing now. How much does the U.S. spend on dog food in a year? How much do we spend annually on foreign aid? Hmmm.

As for Teddy, I 'm going to give him a Milkbone, and I'm going to figure out a way to get to the Middle East. Sleep well.