I recently read a post by Waiterrant that was very thoughtfully written.  It was about how we as humans
don’t place equal value on human lives.  We consider some people more “valuable” than others and are willing to go the extra mile to show compassion to some people and not those who are less
“desirable”.  It was thought provoking and inspiring.  Most of what he talked about was centered around the Biblical account of Jesus casting the demons out of a possessed man and into a herd of pigs who proceeded to throw themselves off a cliff. 

The whole post was really good and I would encourage anyone who is reading this to read that post, too. But what I really enjoyed was one of the comments and Waiterrant’s response to that comment.  One commenter was disgusted that God would destroy animals in order to heal someone: “the only way to save him was to kill someone’s pigs?  Something is wrong with this type of thinking.  I wonder what Buddha would have thought about this.”

A fairly sarcastic response, but I suppose a fair enough question.  But if you’re going to criticize a world religion and hold your own up as superior, you should know your own religion’s take on things. Waiterrant’s response was: “Buddha would have said, ‘I wouldn’t get too attached to those pigs if I were you.’ “ 

That made me laugh out loud.  I don’t believe that Waiterrant professes to be a Christian but I think that that was a great and probably more “Christian” way to diffuse a dead-end situation than most of us would come up with..  The person who made that comment wasn’t looking for a “God’s ways are greater than our ways and who are we to question Him” sort of sermon.  They have already formed an opinion and weren’t really listening. Using knowledge and a sense of humour Waiterrant made his point and probably had a better chance of actually getting through to the writer.  And he did it without making other readers feel put off or offended by narrow-minded fundamentalism. 

I wish I was more like this.  Confident and sure of my own views but not arrogant.  Not needing to defend myself or my opions to people but content with myself and able to use intelligence and wit in such a classy way.  I guess I have something to strive for.  This is the stuff New Year’s resolutions are made of.