I am a firm believer that all human beings are 99.9% the same. Sure, you may have some distinguishing characteristics like red hair, or brown skin, or blue eyes, or whatever, but we're all the same. We all like a relatively narrow range of temperatures. We all get tired. We all want enough to eat. We all want a nice place to live. We all want to share our lives with someone.

We are all the same. Genetically it has been shown that no matter where you're from, no matter what ethnicity, we are all descended from a single person back in the beginning of our species. So why is it that an awful lot of people work very hard to dissect differences. To create artificial "us vs them" issues?

We've got the protestants vs the catholics in Northern Ireland. We have the Muslems vs the Jews in the Middle East. We've got Serbs vs Croats in Eastern Europe and in Vermont now it's the straights against the gays. If I see another "Take Back Vermont" sign I'm going to be sick.

This petty foolishness has never brought anything but pain and suffering in any area of the world. Throughout history, leaders have manipulated their followers into doing their bidding by creating trumped up issues. 'You don't believe in what my King says we believe, so I must kill you now', welcome to the crusades. 'Jesus did something here 2000 years ago'. 'Mohammad did something here too so it's ours'. The failed middle east peace talks this summer.

Instead of trying to find minute differences, we should focus on what makes us similar. We all have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We need to go further. We need ALL the laws to apply to ALL the people or we can never have a truely free and open society. If one segment of the population can vote, then all the people can vote. If one group can own a business then anyone can own a business. And if one group can marry, then everyone should be able to marry the partner of their choice.

I never read where Jesus said "you're all God's children, except those people over there". As a matter of fact, I remember something about "Judge not lest yea be judged and found wanting" and "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God."

In all the faiths I've read, they all mention something similar to "Do onto others as you would have others do onto you". Those are good words to live by.