To tear down one is to tear down all.

Is anyone else having increasing worry over how common it is becoming for someone to state "Islam is evil" or to say that "Muslims are really messed up"? The lack of clarity and intelligence in such statements...scare me.

Since most here don't know me that well, I'll share a somewhat big aspect of my life. As we all know, the body naturally has this attractive to physical beauty. Some believe that this is natural while others think that taking a conservative view to it is appropriate.

I tend to take it a step farther. I argue that physical appearance should be viewed as useless. Whether someone is attractive or not should bear no conscious whatsoever on how a person is evaluated or viewed.

I remember sharing this train of thought with my dad (my family knows full and well of these convictions) and so he poses a scenario: "What if you had met a very attractive girl? Are you telling me this wouldn't affect you at all?"

And so I respond, "Well, sure, the initial reaction might be that I notice this quite clearly, but I would then ignroe the fact and treat her as I would any other person." And this I know capable. I've dated plenty of girls of either atrractive appearance and not so attractive. Heh, though with the latter, I've recieved some not so quite kind comments about them, some directly from my parents.

In any case, my father just stops for a moment and then goes, "Wow. You're a radical."

And that always stuck out to me. Because I had never viewed it in that vain. Did I have radical ideas, somewhat? Sure. I'd be the first to admit, though to my father's disdain. I could be somewhat of an extremist at times.

But towards appearance. I never thought of it as a radical idea. And, yet, it quite it. Because while people are quick to say that appearance gets too much attention and that we focus on it far too much these days, no one wants to get rid of it entirely. We like far too much the butterflies we get when someone cute notices us. We enjoy the pleasure of admiring a pretty face.

But what virtue does beauty have that can draw such importance from us? It isn't worked for. It isn't something that a person can labor for., for the most part.

Generally, it's, "Are you born that way or not?" A person can be intelligent, have a funny or intriguing personality, be thinker, be compationate, or be caring. All things that they can develop by themselves. And all amazing great and wonderful traits. Beauty tends to pale in comparrison. It's incredibly dull and bland.

And as my dad arbitrarily labeled me a radical, I realized I never thought of myself as such because what I did just made sense. And I'm not one to sacrifice truth when I see it, no matter how difficult or impossible it seems.

So I've never dated based on appearance. I never tell someone they're pretty or good-looking as a compliment. And, most important, I never criticize someone based appearance ("look how fat she is" "wow, ever heard of ProActive?").

Now, I'll go even steps farther, such as not caring whether my clothes are ironed or (much to my parents hate) not using ProActive because these things are incredibly superficial and not a real value. The actual person is what matters. But I wouldn't say that is a necessary for any other person to do that too. The previous three are important. Those two, only if you wish. I would never tell someone not to lose weight if they want to. Many health benefits. However, I would never encourage a person to do it if they don't wish to.

Because the beauty of not concentrating on how we look means focusing on what's important: the person. Who is inside and the brain and personality of a person.

Now, I know better than to expect the world to be better. I know better than to go to a job interview with wrinkled clothes. I probably won't get hired (then again, who knows?). But I know better than to let life's realities be confused for truths. I wish I could say the same for my father. He tells me to do these things because of how others will view you. He sets his standard by other people. When you seek truth, that is the only thing that will matter. Do things because of what is right rather than because of what others will think.

However, I also know that it's unlikely the world will ever follow suit with this. Not one person. That's reality. But I remain hopeful (and somewhat naive).

I always keep remembering this one conversation I had with my mom. We don't always meet eye to eye when it comes to religion and, while I love to debate for the sake of reaching an answer and learning more, she never seems to be able to appropriately back up what she says.

So we were watching T. V., I believe, and something came up about having an athiest for a president. And I mention it to my mom and her immediate reaction is, "Yes, we've got to keep them out of the White House or their going to try to drive God out of our lives!"

Now, I don't know about anyone else, but I have plenty of friends who are atheist. To be honest, I've never felt my faith to be at stake. I might be in a unique situation but anyone I greet or meet, I repect what they believe and they respect what I believe. And we all don't lose sleep at the end of the day.

So this accusation that God will be driven from our lives if ("God forbid") an athiest is elected as President of the United States (to clarify for all those not from the U. S.) seems quite silly to me. In fact, the only reason I can think as to why you might suppose such a thing is if your intent for having a Christian president is to spread Christianity. Which, if I may be so bold (with a position that ought not to be bold to begin with), should not be the intent with your political choice.

The position of President is a public service, serving a immense group of people of many religions and other such identifications. It is an executive post, meaning it makes sure that the laws (desinated by Congress and corrected and deemed constitutional by the Supreme Court) are followed and executed appropriately. No where in that is Christianity an issue. Serving a group of people, the law has no right (and I state that appropriately) to ask a Buddhist or an athiest to observe the Sabbath. It has no right to tell a Jew to observe the Sabbath on the same day or in the same fashion as a Christian. Religion is a personal choice and is allowed to be practiced (so long as no others are harmed in the process) without any infliction by the law.

Case in point, as a public servant and as a public position, the religion of the president should not be of consequence - only how he (or she) serves the people of the nation (and all of those people). I think, as Christians, we forget others of other faiths a little too much. We may not agree with everyone and (quite obviously) not everyone is going to convert. But Christ did say (perhaps a bit paraphrased), "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Respect those other faiths.