I had a dream last night. It was like I was lost and had amnesia in an old Western movie. (chuckle) I was wandering the land, trying to find a group of people that might be “my own.”
One group seemed friendly enough, but they didn’t seem “it.” I kept walking.
When I came upon a stream, I waded it and found another group. There was a lot of bustling and planning going on. They were working on wooden objects on the ground, and I thought, “Hey, maybe these are my people. I’ll stick around at the edge of the village and watch.”
However, in this second group, after listening to the chatter, I realized they were scared about something. They were working together at a feverish pace. It was like they were preparing for war.
As I stood there just on the edge of this second settlement and tried to figure out what they were making on the ground, I heard rushing footsteps from the direction of the stream I’d crossed.
The first group was running toward us, weapons in hand.
For the first time, I realized that these raiders (whom I’d thought were friendly when I’d gone through their village) had skin and clothes emitting a strobing, greenish light with a coating of jagged, floating blocks of white. It was like they’d become cartoon characters.
Looking back at the people on this side of the stream, they were emitting a bluish light with a similar “cartoon coating” of white, jagged splotches. However, somehow, the blue group was not only diminished in number but had also found guns while I’d been looking at the raiding party.
There was the sound of a shooting gun, but it was from “our side.” A blue man next to me fell down. Looking on the ground, I saw it was only a blue-painted, wooden figure. I saw another blue man, very real, jump up from the ground near me and fire at another blue “man” in the distance. In the smoky air, shadows worked just right for me to see that a rope was released, allowing the fired-upon “blue man” to fall stiffly to the ground. Another wooden man had “died.”
Interesting! The blue group was trying to display to the oncoming green group that they were at war with themselves. I thought this clever. But, would it fool the raiders?
I’d backed toward the stream enough that I was now among the green group. Since we’d met previously and they knew I was a stranger to the lands, they did not attack me. They had, however, stopped in their tracks and watched with delight as the blue group seemed to be killing themselves quite nicely. There was amusement and relief because, “Well, hey, if they’re going to do our job for us, we can claim the ground with ease after they have cleared themselves off.”
The green group turned around and walked back across the stream, disappearing into the distance.
I looked back at the blue group. They were still firing weapons, but seemed relieved that the raid had not yet occurred. Perhaps the green group would come back later, unprepared to see a large, blue group fully on alert and ready to defend their land from invaders.
How long before the green group lost patience with waiting for this faked civil war to end? Would they invade anyway, if they saw “the civil war” still raging?
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When I awoke, I thought about the idea that the first group looked like regular humans as I’d passed through. The second group had looked just as human when I first came. However, once they neared one another, that’s when I could see that their skin glowed different colors. Yet, they were both cartoon-like, too. I’m reminded of Dr. Seuss’s Sneetches:
<a href=”https://youtu.be/hzMhmk2sWzU” rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>https://youtu.be/hzMhmk2sWzU</a>
As a person, where do I belong? In the blue group or the green? If I’d walked further, would I have found “my group?” What color would they emit once another group came near? What color would I glow, if and when I became a cartoon character?
Some think the Native Americans were peaceful, as a general rule. Some think the pilgrims were peaceful, as a general rule. There’s division over it.
But, look from the distance of not being a part of either group…no specific ancestry. No country of origin. Just plain ol’ human.
To deny that any race, ethnicity, religion, or any other way of dividing ourselves has a history of violence toward others is to deny our humanity.
Let’s stop revising history. Let’s, instead, look at human history from the beginning of time and see ourselves for who we are, no matter how we choose to categorize ourselves.
We humans are violent, as a general rule.
No matter if star-bellied or sporting green hue, we humans are human no matter what we do.
To pretend we’re better than that guy over there is to pretend we’re not human,
really, just a scared, wooden square.
So, how do we humans achieve that label of “most significantly better?”
Well, I’d say, my friends, we need think on the thinking in God’s love letter!