The Gospel according to Rottweilers.
" Ooh, a rottweiler!" She said while wrinkling her nose and squinting here eyes and face.
"Ooh, a privileged white woman with a sense of entitlement who is full of fear and ignorance." I thought to myself.
"Yea, he’s just like those "other" folks you see on the evening news committing crimes," I said sarcastically.
"I… I… actu… I actually like dogs," she said apologetically, completely startled that I named her prejudice.
This was an encounter I had yesterday with a woman while walking my dog. It immediately made me think of racism and prejudice and how both are based on fear and ignorance. That is why I used such a strong and offensive example. I have posted about this before, but yesterday’s encounter ignited a small flame.
"Ooh, an Italian."
"Ooh, a Hispanic."
"Ooh, a white male."
"Ooh, a gay person."
"Ooh, a Jew."
Most folks want to exterminate anything they fear. Quite often fear is based on ignorance.
I also recalled that I too was once thought people were out of their minds to own a rottweiler until my wife fell in love with Carmine, a 120 pound rottweiler and he started living with us. He’s actually very sweet and loving and all I had to do was face my fear and ignorance.
Jesus was on to something with his idea about loving your neigghbor. He was basically saying, "Face your fear and you will no longer be ignorant. Overcome your ignorance and you will no longer be afraid."
The way I overcame my prejudice was to face my fear, learn something about the breed, and to allow him into my home and share some of my food with him.
Funny, people are the same way.
14 Comments:
Fear? Humans fear things? Perish the thought....
Actually, USAmericans are some of the most fearful people on this planet, mostly because we're afraid that all of our creature comforts will be stripped away from us and we'll become like the "rest of the world."
HOWEVER....
What happens when that fear is eliminated? We actually realize that we're NOT that different from all of "those" people in the "rest of the world". When we see past our prejudices, our hurts, our pains, our misconceptions, we see people for who they are -- God's children, God's creations, the bride of Christ (dirty as some of us might be at times).
Now, just how do we get rid of that fear?
Oh sure - just invite people into your home, share a meal with them, get to know them and then maybe you'll learn to love them.
HA! Like that will work!
I am so not good at sarcasm. Oh well.
I thought the same about Pit Bulls till my son got one who is sweet as he can be...the biggest danger is being licked to death with a HUGE tongue.
But...how do we get past what we fear? I try not to be prejudiced against anyone, but I find myself criticizing and failing to those whose ways I am ignorant of!
But thanks for breaking it down where I should be able to "get" it!
Like djg in the previous post, I had a pit-bull, Joey, and he was the sweetest dog ever, people would cross the street to avoid him which, I think, hurt Joey's feelings.
I just had a horrible encounter with a family member and I experienced a different kind of FEAR. They type of fear that makes you lock the doors, grab the phone and pray that you don't have to call 911 for help.
I'm sorry...I didn't mean to ramble on your blog. I'll come back when I have something that relates better.
Ooooh - someone speaking the truth about Jesus. Better stomp that crap out quick, or it might change the whole damn world.
Oh, wait...damn, it's too late for that....
It's always what (and who) I don't know that I fear. It's easier to make generalizations about folks you don't know than to realize, "Oh, if I'm talking about 'them,' I'm talking about 'Steve.' Maybe what's being said about 'them' isn't right, because Steve isn't like that..."
You come up with the coolest images. Maybe all that expensive education was worth it...(or maybe you came in with this incredible gift, all along!).
Rick,
Were you operating out of fear and ignorance when you thought
"Ooh, a privileged white woman"?
If not, why not?
Looks like you might need to do some plank removal before you operate on other people's specks...
Thanks for your comments.
I am glad to see Rick in Va. is still reading these posts. I always get a chuckle from you, so thanks for coming by and leaving a comment. May you be filled with the love and presence of Jesus Christ during your visits.
I read your blog also, and find the ads for self-protection, like stun guns and mace interesting. It reminds me of the ads you had on your site for Kerry during the election. LOL!!! People do a lot of thngs for the "extra change" don't they?
Speaking of the plank in my eye, you are exactly correct, that was part of my point.
I was going to say that I was surprised that you could notice the plank in my eye when you have that gigantic stick up your confrontational ass, but then I realized that wouldn't be too Christ-like.
Hey Rick... did I pinch that last nerve of yours?
It's good to see that you're human and not some super spiritualist...
... I'd pull up a chair and hang around a while but that stick seems to be getting in the way...
And you have a problem with my attempts to generate some revenue over on the blog?
Listen, if I were a rich liberal able to afford to go to Berkeley, I too could go ad-less... but seeing how I'm just a poor, conservative red-neck with a stick in my ass, I've got to do what I've got to do to meet expenses...
The Kerry ads I can see you chuckling about given my disgust with the man but I can't control Google Ad content and so it's the price I pay.
But what's wrong with mace and stun guns? Oh, never mind... I'm assuming you think underwear on terrorist heads and listening to rap music is torture and so I can understand the problem you might have with... say... women who'd like to defend themselves against rapists and thugs...
... I'm sure you'd rather these women just turn the other cheek eh?
Unless of course, it was your woman...
Well, gotta get back to the office and earn my keep...
Sorry about that last nerve thing... but you know, I wonder if perhaps you might want to grow a thicker skin... might help you do a little better in the I-need-to-have-more-of-a-pastoral-attutude department...
Oh I see Rick in Va. is still here reading. Keep coming back,it works if you are willing.
I was being a bit sarcastic with the stick. Were two episcopalians poking fun like two brothers in Christ. You are an Episcopalin and not one of those groups that keep tearing the church apart, right?
Thanks again for your comments. I am not sure what "turn the other cheek" means, Jesus said it, not me. I guess it doesn't mean allowing women to be hurt by thugs. So I am in favor of stun guns and mace for women. I am really in favor of love too so I was just taken back a little when I saw ads selling instruments of violence. I mean some conservative religious zealot could read your blog and purchase that stuff and use it as an act of terrorism. So you ought to put up a disclaimer, "only women can purchase these products."
The Kerry ads were really funny though. I did LOL! You hate Kerry, but you don't mind taking money for ads that support your addiction in his name.
I bet Jesus would sell them at the temple if he were walking around today. I would have never known that you are a redneck by your comments. I grew-up in WV so I guess I am a now liberal redneck.
As far as generating revenue on your blog, its your blog. Just so as long as you are not reading or blogging on your employer's dime.
I love you. I wish you were standing here 'cause I'd kiss you on your face and give you a big teddy bear hug in the name of Jesus.
Now go back to work... and quit driving up the cost of insurance and everything else by goofing off. You are costing America and your employer money.
Love you!
Love me eh?
I don't really think so.
I think that when you say you love someone you don't even know, that you're telling a bit of a fib.
God loves us, I can buy into that. After all, He knows us intimately. And I think it's in that knowledge that love can be expressed or even experienced.
But you don't love me. In fact, truth is that you barely tolerate me or those who think like I do (and this is evidenced by your own words).
So I think some brutal honesty is in order.
Perhaps you strive to love but in your humanity, you fail.
I think it'd be more genuine, more real, to say... Rick, you're not all that lovable and frankly I can't say that I love you but I'll admit to liking you (at times) and not liking you (most times) and confess that I need God's help in loving you.
And oh... Rick... the feeling's mutual.
Dear Rick in Va.,
Mr. Brutally HOnest, an honest days work for an honest day's pay. (wink, wink)
No, I do love you and if you were here I would give you a big kiss on your face just to show you how much. Love isn't a feeling, it is an action. That is why we don't wait util we feel like loving those we oppose, the call is to love. Jesus doesn't leave us the option. I don't know those folks in Iraq, but it doesn't mean that I am not called to love them. This was sorta my point on my post the other day. Many people find it easy to HATE what they don't understand or like, but as Christians we are called to move beyond our fear and ignorance and to sit at the table with others.
You get to love John Kery because God calls you to love him; besides, he is your baptised brother in Christ. So please for the sake of the GOspel and your voice in Christianity, stop the hate and stupidity. "For if we say we love God and hate our fellow human being we are a liar and the truth is not in us." There's some brutal honesty.
The reality is, my friend, is that I love you and there isn't much you can do about it. It isn't based on a feeling, it is based on what God has done in my soul.
You attack those who politically disagree with you, that your choice. I don't think you are bad, I think you are afraid. I think you are full of fear and I feel sorry for you. Just like those folks scared of my dog. They are not bad people, they are just full of ignorance and fear and they allow themselves to stay ignorant because they are afraid and they stay afraid because they are ignorant.
Jesus is calling you rise above your fear and ignorance and embrace your enemy-- to sit and eat at the GOd's Table Feast with your neighbor. Hopefully it will be me sitting across from you. Please pass the rolls.
Love you, yes I do.
Rick,
Lots to respond to.
What's with the double wink? Is there something else you're trying to say? A wink implies some level of understanding between the wink-er and the wink-ee. I haven't the foggiest bit of understanding as to your honest day's work for an honest day's pay comment and so I'm likely to completely misunderstand the winking as some form of sarcastic put down. Heaven knows you're not that kind of guy (wink, wink).
You might try to plant a big kiss on my face were we to meet eye to eye but you better get some permission from me first or you're likely to have planted a big punch on your face. I don't care for any guy kissing me on the face. Let's leave things to handshakes.
Love is a feeling and love is an action and love is a lot more than either or both.
Love is also laying one's life down for another and there are those who have done that in the service of freedom and have shown you and me how to ultimately express love. Yet people in your ideological camp want to besmirch those actions by redefining love narrowly and stating that love can only be expressed as you folks say and then you add salt to the wound by stating that your actions are loving. One word comes to mind. Bullsh*t.
As to hate. Many people like yourself are adept at redefining hate as mere opposition. If one thinks that homosexuality is sin, they are hate-filled. If one thinks that John Kerry's history suggests that he was not the right person to lead this country at this time, they must be hate-filled. If one vehemently and confidently stands in opposition to liberal ideas, statements and actions, they must be hate-filled.
Conversely, if liberals rant on against conservatives, if Bush is compared to Hitler, if pro Iraqi war supporters are painted as ignorant and easily led or when Berkely educated leftists attempt to paint Brutally Honest comments as hate-filled stupidity, they must be loving people.
Oh... and we're filled with fear because we stand in opposition to moonbats and their ideology. Yet, I guess you folks are filled with courage when you stand in opposition to people like myself.
Two words come to mind Rick and they can be used independently or better, together.
Rank. Hypocrisy.
You want to lovingly embrace a bomb laden terrrorist hell bent on blowing up innocent men, women and children then feel free. Just try to do it such a way as to contain the blast.
I'll show my love for the innocent men, women and children that might be saved a horrific death by blowing away the fanatic.
What a joke.
The problem with ivory tower intellectuals who rarely stray from their coffee klatches into the real world is that they're rarely exposed to brutally honest evil. No instead, they make evil out of ordinary citizens who see things pretty clearly but are seen to be stupid, ignorant, fear-filled etc, who see things without the filtration system that is modern liberal thought.
No Rick, you can't love that which you label stupid, or hate-filled, or ignorant. To say that you do is to redefine the term, something you liberals are experts at.
Allow me to use the word hate in the manner that you people have redefined it.
You oppose everything I stand for Rick. You think my comments are stupid, ignorant and sourced in fear.
Using your definition Rick, you don't love me.
You hate me.
Be honest.
For Christ's sake.
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Brother Rick in Va.,
First, I wouldn't try to kiss you, brother. I was only kidding, however, violence isn't always the answer to our fear. So IF I did kiss you, punching me in the face would only be a fear-based reaction. Jesus taught that love is the answer. Scripture teaches to greet out brother with a kiss. I was being unfair to you for I suspected you would most likely resent another dude kissing you. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure I've ever kissed another man, maybe my dad? I'm Italian, it shouldn't be a big deal, huh? Maybe I can look at my own fear on this issue.
Funny, I was thinking, if he punched me I might just jack his ass up. Isn't it interesting how violence is never the answer-- it only perpetuates more violence.
It doesn't take much animosity to escalate a fight, does it? I push you, you push me the next thing you know we are at war with one another.
Jesus knew something. I pray for the courgae and willingness to follow him.
I suspect that you are probably a really good dude with a huge heart for those you love, like your family.
The double wink was my way of yanking your strings. I was wrong. I was teasing you for blogging while working. I have no idea if you do that or not, I was only responding as if you did. The name of your blog is Brutal Honesty. I just thought it'd be ironic if you claimed Brutal Honesty while stealing from your employer, that would not be an "honest" thing to do. Again, I was just yanking your strings. I apologize.
You seem like a very passionate, intellgent and articulate person, and sometimes the way that you respond seems like it comes from a place of anger. Do you really HATE Ted Kennedy? Are we not called by God to build bridges and community with those you dislike or disagree? I just think someone as smart and passioante as you could really be used by God to help heal the world.
It is easy for me to draw a line in the sand and anything that doesn't fit on my side of the line is evil, wrong, and corrupt, but the reality is, life is gray and not nearly as black and white as we want. Ted is a drunk, GWB is a dry drunk, and Limbaugh is drug addict and they all act like they have no demons.
Blindness is NOT that one cannot see, it is an unwillingness to want to see or hear any view that does not correspond to one's point of view. That is why we need Christ to spit in our eyes.
Brother, I just think God wants to heal all of us of what seems like hate for what we don't like- liberals or conservatives. Anger, rage, hate, words that divide, do not serve God's kingdom, let alone our little kingdom. The hard part is deciding to let go of our hate and lay down our vengance and open ourselves to the way of Jesus Christ, which is not easy, but we are called to it nevertheless.
Brother, you are not called to hate Ted Kennedy, you are called to love him, just in the same way folks who claim Christ are called to love Bush.
Some Christians truly believe that dropping bombs on another country is wrong, or that executing people is wrong, or that abortion is wrong, but none of these are reasons to hate. We cannot look a blood-soaked Jesus Christ who hangs from a cross in the eyes and justify our hate of another human being. We have to somehow let the Spirit of God heal us of our desire to destroy verbally, emotionally, or physically anything that we don't like. This has nothing to do with being conservative or liberal, it has to do with following Jesus.
Brother, you and I claim we serve Christ, our baptism makes us of same the Body of Christ. This is not about you coming to believe like me or my believing like you, this is about us dropping the swords that get in the way of Jesus Christ healing this broken world.
In order to do that we have to give up our right to hate another person. Most of us are unwilling to give up our right to hate for we find power and energy in our hate, but according to God real power is found in loving our brothers and enemies.
For anything I have said or done that has offended you I am sorry and ask for your forgiveness.
Pray for me brother.
In Christ's Love,
Rick
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