“No More Foreign Oil !!”

We hear this cry a lot, especially when gas prices take a sharp jump at the gas station. “No More Foreign Oil !!” But who do we think about when we join this familiar chant? Usually we think of Arabs, Iraqi, even Iranians. But here’s a little test for you: The following are the names of the top five countries from which we import oil; put them in order according to which one we import the most to the one from which we import the least :

Venezuela , Nigeria, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Mexico.

Now, here’s the true order of those countries, according to how much oil we import: the most comes from Canada, then Mexico, then Saudi Arabia, then Venezuela, and finally Nigeria. Does it surprise you that only one of the countries among the top five is an “Arab” country, and that even it is ranked #3? And yet, the face that we often put on “foreign oil” is an Arab face. Why do you think that is? Now think about the word “terrorist”. What comes to mind? September 11, Muslim, Arab. Even other national groups that may have brown skin can get caught up in this group; Indians , Mexicans, Palestinians; all come under suspicion. We seldom think of people like Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols (Oklahoma City) or Ted Kaczynski (the “Unabomber”), none of who were Muslim or even of Arab descent. Yet they also were terrorists in every sense of the word.
Obviously my primary point is that we cannot categorize entire groups of people as either “good” or “bad”. We’ve done this to often in history, and were ashamed of it later. (”The only good Indian is a dead Indian.”) But I’m also wanting to make the same point that I made during a Children’s Moment a few weeks ago, and that was, to always live by the Golden Rule that Jesus taught to us: “Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.”
This, it seems to me, is a long lost principle in our country, and demonstrates how far we have drifted away from our Christian roots. Wall Street greed, detention without trial, prejudice, torture, broken families; all of these violate the Golden Rule.
“Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.”
It’s clear; it’s the basis of a good life; it’s simple. Keep it in mind.

I’ll see you in church.

~Roy