Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

Why can't we just along with each other?  If an Jewish man, a Muslim man, and a Christian man all stood with their toes in the shallow part of a lake, took their clothes off, and stood there, all they would be is three naked men. No more, no less. If a naked atheist was in the deep water drowning, they would do their best to save him. When you are naked among the naked, you are just a naked person.

America is divided on a whole slew of issues but we are far better off than some of our collective human beings. We don't have bombs dropping on our head and let's face it, our wars are never on our front lawn. Our wars are in other places, not here. The next time any right winged fanatic claim there is a war on religion in this country I am going to throw up. The word "war" should not be thrown around so easily. I am also saying this as it relates to women. It is the discrimination of women that this country needs to fix, but it is not a war. There is no "war" on religion in this country, unless you count the people who believe the world is only 6,000 years old. They are the ones shouting the loudest. Saying it doesn't make it true.

You want to see a war? Take your pick from about a dozen countries currently in the state of war. Too dangerous you say? Tell that to the Americans currently fighting in Afghanistan. Since quite a few of the soldier's there were little kids when 9/11 happened they must wonder just why the fuck we are still there. Former President Bush sent our military in to hunt down the people responsible for the terrorist attack on 9/11. I think we can safely say we got them. Some are in prison (somewhere, because we all know other counties take our political prisoners because they can torture them and we keep our hands clean), and the others are dead. If we stayed in Afghanistan another twenty years, it wouldn't matter. We can't change the world. We can't change another country's culture. We cannot mold another country to be an image of our country. The only thing we can do is act with kindness towards each other and teach each other tolerance.The rest is up to them.

I can't help but wonder what would happen if every warring country put their guns down for one day. One twenty four hour period where no one shoots at each other, no one sticks a bomb under a car, no planes fly overhead and drops bomb. What if we cross that invisible line and shake hands instead of firing bullets? What if we looked at each other and found one thing in common with our enemies? It could be the color of our eyes, the weary lines of fatigue on our faces, or the shoes on our feet.

If we cannot find one thing in common, then we take our clothes off and become naked. That's the way we all came into this world. We were born humble and needy. Our needs were met by our mothers and our humility was eroded as we grew. But it's a good start.

Put your toes in the water. Stop being so scared. Scrape up an extra ounce of courage, be brave and look at your enemy and see that he wants the same as you. Peace.