Who would you be...?

"You can say that you stand apart, put a fence around your yard. You can build a tall rampart and guard it with a gun. You can dig yourself a moat. Burn the bridge and burn the boat. It won't matter that much, you know because all the world is one.

You can march in a big parade every Independence Day. You can raise up your own flag and sing your own anthem. It will ring out in the air with all the other anthems there till the winds of the earth declare all the world is one." (Peter Mayer, songwriter and singer)

These words of Peter Mayer reflect the teachings of Jesus. To discover this for one's self, all that's needed is to read "the letters in red" (some editions of the life of Jesus, have what he said printed in red).

We can say we stand apart, label each other, divide up into them and us, the good (which is always us) and the evil (which is always them) but he truth is, we're all the same. As Peter says, "all the world is one."

Institutions, even religious institutions, divide people into them and us. In politics we have the good guys and the bad guys --- who is good and who is bad depends on whether you're democrat, republican, independent, or some other. Nonetheless, it's those in my party verses those in the other party. Each party fuels negative emotions --- anger, animosity, hatred, feelings of superiority.

Religious institutions are no better. The current state of the christian religion in America, the religion that claims it was founded on the teachings of Jesus,  is just more of the same --- hundreds of denominations saying their way is more right than any other way. Jesus was a Jew. He was born a Jew, lived a Jew and died a Jew, yet many Christians won't recognize Jews as God's children. From the other side of the fence, it's no better as many Jews don't recognize any outside their way of thinking as acceptable, and neither do Muslims. It's all a mess. We build ramparts and moats to protect ourselves. We march in big parades saying how we're right and others are wrong (look at most any "special" parade and see if that's not the case for most all of them).

This is all stuff (ego stuff) we do to make ourselves feel special, superior to others. In making ourselves feel special we tear others down, belittle, berate, and condemn. We hurl insults, hurtful words, and sarcastic comments, and feel justified, for no other reason than the other person isn't on "my team," isn't in my group.

Who would you be without "your team." Who would you be without your political persona? Who would you be without your religious identification. Who would you be without your national identity?

Who would you be?