When the Missus and I took the dogs out, the Duchess immediately went into bark mode and the Budster perked up, ears and tail at attention. COWS! The Budster ran toward the fence and began tearing it up. That’s what we call it when he scratches at the grass, throwing it high into the air. “Get ’em Buddy!” 🙂 Even Mumford got in a boisterous ah-ROOO! at the curious cows. The cows haven’t been around much lately. Their daddy sometimes rotates them between pastures but now they are back and the pups are happy. They like it when others are around. The place feels more complete.

It can sometimes take a while to learn how to get along with others especially when you have been alone or only with your own kind. The Budster was an only child for a lot of years but he quickly got used to others here at the house. Mumford was alone for most of her life and it took her a while but now she thinks the other pups are okay. Cats, not so much. She doesn’t like cats because cats are scary. Neither Buddy nor Duchess could care less about the cats. Those others are just background noise to them.

Our dogs are different breeds and the cats are different breeds. Our dogs get along with our cats. They get along with the cows. Those aren’t different breeds, they’re completely different species and those different species get along better than most people. They notice the differences in size, hair and skin color like we do but they aren’t prejudice. They don’t consider one ‘other’ to have greater value over another. They make decisions based on behavior. Lewis, one of our cats, is ornery. He smacks the dogs around so they avoid him. Any animal will avoid others who misbehave regardless of color, breed or species. That is a socially normal behavior.

Years ago, we moved from the city out into the country. It’s not that we don’t like others, it’s just that we like it better when there’s fewer of them around. People in large groups behave differently when they are crowded together like rats in a cage. When we first moved here, you couldn’t see one light on the horizon. Years later, those other lights are everywhere. The cage is slowing closing in and we might have to move further out before it’s over. It’s not “white flight”. It has nothing to do with racial bias no matter what the press might say. All they have is a racial hammer so to them everything looks like a racial nail.

Did you know that a “good” definition of race doesn’t exist? Skin color does not define a race. If someone who is black has a white skinned great grandfather are they still black? What percentage of a particular skin color do you need to have in you to be considered black or white? DNA of a black person and white person are identical with the exception of a slight difference in a single gene that controls skin color. That’s it. That’s the only difference. Even in light of DNA discoveries we still give more credence to the term “race” than the Egyptians or early Greeks did. Jesus never once mentioned race yet our society is obsessed with such notions. They refer to races as though they were different species.

Galatians 3:28-29

People commonly refer to Jews as a race and this is simply not so. If anything, the Jews share a common lineage. They are descendants of Abraham. How could the seed of one man become a “race” and if that happened how many other “races” are the seed of another man? It’s junk science. It’s the conclusion of an ignorant society. People use the term race as a label. You could just as easily compare the Jews and non-Jews to the Hatfields and McCoys, two different families.

Jews, non-Jews, Greeks are ethnicities.

Ethnicity – noun

Societies naturally divide themselves by different customs, cultures, language and religions. Blacks and whites can even be considered ethnicities in that they often have different cultures and even a different language of sorts. One ethnicity is no greater than another. They are different.

Jesus showed love and mercy on the Samaritan woman at the well. The Jews and Samaritans were not different races, they were different ethnicities. Jesus was harsh on the Pharisees who were Jews as He was. It wasn’t a matter of lineage or ethnicity, it was a matter of behavior.

1 Corinthians 5:11

Throughout the animal world, “others” get along and people get along with other species better than we do with others who have different colored skin or are of a different ethnicity. We prefer extreme others over similar others because we expect them to be different. We expect a cow to behave differently than a dog which behaves differently than an elephant. With few exceptions, cows all behave the same, so do elephants and lions. People, on the other hand, exhibit a wide range of behavior and typically congregate with those who share and accept the same behavior. Gangs are an example with different skin color and similar behavior. Churches, clubs and neighborhoods are other examples. These are subgroups within our society and they are formed by natural attraction.

You are not racist if you don’t like the behavior of someone with a different skin color. You are racist if you don’t like others because they have a different skin color. You cannot be labeled a dog hater if you don’t like the behavior of a particular pit bull. You can’t even be labeled a pit bull hater. It’s the behavior of that one particular dog or person or gang that repels you. It’s not their race or breed or species, it’s their behavior.

Don’t pay attention to narrow-minded others who paint you with a broad brush and refrain from doing that to others. Jesus was very specific in the rare times that He pointed His finger. The rest of the time, He paid no attention to cultural differences.

Go thou and do likewise.

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