Cheers!

I was thinking about Cheers, the bar where everybody knows your name.  It's funny how people of different backgrounds can come together for a common cause or purpose.

People in a bar gather together to drink and socialize. Some bars cater to neighborhoods, some have professional careers in common, some are there because of the menu. Some are there to meet people.

I was at my brother's house yesterday. In his neighborhood are many different nationalities and races -- Polish, Mexican, Asian, African American -- they live together in community.

Churches have people from all different backgrounds that share a common faith.

Maybe, as a nation we have become so attached to our smaller communities that we have forgotten that we are also a part of a greater community. We seem to focus on the needs of our own community and the differences between our smaller groups, with little regard for the needs of our greater community.

If meeting the needs of our local community hurts another community, so be it.
If meeting the needs of our local community has a negative impact on the rest of the country -- not our problem.

We rely on our national government to look out for our national interest. We need to remember that we are citizens and members of a community that is larger and greater than our local groups. I think that we sometimes forget that we do have common interests.

I think hating other groups is easy when we don't really know them. I mean it is easy for a white guy that lives in the Bible belt that has never met a Muslim to generalize and hate them all. If you knew Muslims that live and work in neighborhoods across the country and worry about taxes, health care, saving to put their kids through college, balancing work and school activities, all of the same things you worry about -- it becomes harder to hate them.

As much as we want to be known, we should want to know others.



John <><