Coco Calling No.259 - Don’t Place All Your Humans in the Same Basket

My owner has a chick who has largely fledged and left the nest. He’s a bit like a cuckoo chick because he’s now twice the size of his parents, and he’s currently studying at university. A couple of weeks ago, he had to travel to New York to gain some practical experience for his studies. While he was there, he and a fellow student took some time out, and went for a walk in Central Park. And it wasn’t long before they were approached by a lady walking a dog.                                                                                                                              “

Are you British?” she asked.   

“Yes” they replied. 

“Well, I’d just like to apologise to you on behalf of my nation for the behaviour of our President.”                                                                        

And with that, she went on her way. This brief encounter shone a light on what can often be a human failing. Because humans so often like to judge collective groups of other humans as though they are a single entity. But by speaking out as she did, this lady proved that not all Americans are volatile narcissists. And therefore, it follows that not all Russians are full of evil intent. Not all Chinese citizens want to eradicate the Uyghur minority. Not all Israelis are right wing supremacists. Not all Muslims are terrorists. Not all priests are paedophiles. And not all illegal immigrants are economic scroungers. In fact, a very famous British human called Winston Churchill once fell into this trap when he said

“A good German is a dead German.”

No, when humans start to make generalised and prejudiced statements about their fellow-humans, they are revealing their own ignorance and narrowness to the world around them. The special thing about Jesus was that He treated everyone He met as a unique individual. He didn’t condemn or praise whole groups; instead He looked into the inner being of all and sundry. Because He recognised that no two humans are exactly the same.

And I reckon Pope Francis was a bit like Jesus. Everybody was important to him, irrespective of their colour, creed, culture or appearance. He knew that God’s love isn’t just reserved for the few; no, it’s available to everyone. Even to those who seemingly don’t deserve it. That’s what made him ‘a Pope of the People,’ and that’s why Jesus is the Messiah of Love. And that brief encounter in Central Park showed why you should never place groups of humans into the same basket because that’s doing them a great injustice!

“Never judge a country by its politicians.”               

(Sir Alfred Hitchcock: [1899 – 1980]: Influential English film director)

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”             

(Martin Luther King Jnr.: [1929 – 1968]: American Baptist Minister and prominent civil rights campaigner until his assassination in 1968)

“Prejudice is the child of ignorance.”                            

(William Hazlitt: [1778 – 1830]: English essayist, social commentator and philosopher)

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” 

(Matthew 7: 1-3)