Pick a side

Pick a side. That's how we are conditioned. There's always a good guy and a bad guy, and each of us is, of course, always on the side of the good guy.

But this scenario is really driven by our dark selves--hate, greed, pride, insecurity. It's the scenario of conflict: black/white, Sunni/Shiite, rich/poor, Republican/Democrat, Protestant/Catholic, Hindu/Muslim, Israeli/Palestinian.

The truth is that we are all part Satan and part saint. We have to make the choice, as hard as it may be sometimes, to deny our Satan and live our saint.

Hate is the engine of separation and conflict and the poisoning of the soul. Love and human dignity can transcend these hateful divisions. But look around. There's a lot of damned hard work to do, and it's everybody's job.