What if God was one of Us?

why is it that we judge so much? if we are in God's image, does that mean He/She judges us nonstop also?

after much thought on human nature, i believe we are naturally just the most arrogant creature on earth. and that's even when we think we are being godly and benevolent.

and i am going to speak of just the teeniest of arrogance, the amount of arrogance that is overlooked and not even considered heavy enough to be weighed. it's so natural to us, as a whole, but in my arrogance, i will say i am one of the few creatures on earth to recognize the ego of it, instantly. arrogantly, i say, it makes my skin burn. and i stand by my arrogant egO.

there are a lot of homeless people in the city of San Francisco. and this is the arrogance. those of us who come in contact wth 'them' automatically put them in a category about 4 feet below a stray mangy cat. and i dare say most of Us would take home a stray mangy cat before we would take home a homeless human.

or, if we are kind-hearted enough to hand them a $1, we still do it with a feeling of pity, and maybe a tinge of guilt, that we are so much better off than they. it makes us feel better and relieves that feeling of guilt, that we are handing them a $1 and we pat ourselves on the back as we sip our $5 latte.

or, if we are not so kind-hearted, we avoid eye contact with them, step over them, and say to ourselves, (to try to make our $5 latte-induced guilt go away) "well, if i gave that poor slob any money he would just spend it on drugs!!" so we again pat ourselves on the back and consider that we are godlike in giving that homeless man a moral lesson... just say no!

i had a GF who would hand them a newspaper, and say look at the want ads. i have mixed feelings about that one.

i had a BF who said this, as i was scrambling to find my gallon water jug, to hand over to a 60 year-old dusty homeless man, standing at a corner in Sacramento, in 105 degree heat as we drove past him in my BF's $50,000 car ...."well, first we have to MAKE SURE he's homeless."

here's the ultimate arrogant part. we judge OURSELVES to be a godlike person and pat ourselves on the back when we pay attention to those less fortunate than ourselves ( even while judging them to be LESS fortunate ) how do we know we are more happy or fulfilled than they? how do we know we more intelligent than they? less fucked up? less dysfunctional? more valuable? because we have a roof over our heads? because we don't do intravenous drugs? OH THE ARROGANCE!

or, maybe we are some of the very very few, realize that 'they' are an artist /scientist/father/brother/son/triathalon competitor/landscaper/nurse/ mountain climber/mother/ daughter/ sister/ doctor/ plumber/author/pitcher for the NY Yankees/car salesmen/church goer/singer/auto mechanic /dancer /trombone player/ dreamer /lover/human rights activist/president/ actor/congressmen/ criminal (uh maybe those last two should be together...heh) ..... etc etc.

they are ME. and they ARE you. they are GOD