Why Can't We Be Friends?

Every time I start to think no one reads my blog or that I can slack off for a bit when posting, I get a message/phone call/punch-in-the-face saying "GET BACK TO WORK." So here I am again. Speaking of which, if my work were actually just to blog: a) I would be a lot better at it and b) that would be the coolest job ever. I digress though.

So throughout the year and even this summer at my tutoring job with troubled teenage boys, I've been bombarded with talk of (and in some cases singing of) Disney's "High School Musical." What's that you ask? Well, first if you are asking you most definitely do not have a child between the ages of 8-18. I really had no clue what these kids were talking about other than whenever I said the words "Status Quo" in class, I instantly had someone singing this song about the status quo. Last night though I had a chance to experience "High School Musical" for myself. It is the overly cheesy tale of the good-looking basketball star and the cute smart girl who cast aside their normal stereotypes to sing together and audition for their high school musical. There are some obvious roadblock thrown up by the school's brother/sister acting/singing duo who don't want to lose their spot as school drama queen/king. But even the main character's friends cause problems because they need the boy for the big game and the girl for the big quiz bowl. In the end, all cast aside differences, break down barriers, and work together. I have already called it cheesy, and there must be some stronger word for it than that, but the darn idea works. This movie is a HUGE hit and was part of the cover on Newsweek this week with a nice story about it inside. Being as serious as I can here, it actually wouldn't be a bad movie to show in a sociology class or, as a counselor, to the school population to promote an overall positive attitude (though I would probably stick to middle schoolers if doing that). The movie is catchy, upbeat, and just flat out clicks for some reason.

That isn't to say that everyone would get the message. There are always people who are going to be difficult. We see that all the time. On a much larger scale, let's look at Kim Jong Il, or the Iranian president, or what is going on in the Middle East right now. Some people are just difficult to deal with. Sadly, the reason so many in the world are that way is actually one of what should be the great unifiers. Religion. The Middle East is NEVER going to have peace until one of two things happen. 1) One group just eliminates the other or 2) people cool it and realize that (at least the way I see it and have learned) that no matter what religion you are your teachings include something about HUMANITY and peace. Those who are more of religion experts than I who read this may cite wars fought in the Bible...but at least in Christianity, what was it that Jesus taught? I hear Muslim leaders saying that the Koran doesn't advocate what's going on, instead it advocates peace. Now all religions want to claim they are right and "recruit" new members to its church, so there is a "struggle" there. One could claim though that we all worship the same God with just a different savior figure (or in the case of the Jews, still waiting on their savior). Jerusalem is the focal point, that is what they are all fighting over. Why does it matter who is in control though if you can still go visit your temple/shrine? I mean, the U.S. doesn't own the ancient ruins of Athens. That is Greece property, but that doesn't stop me from peacefully visiting if I want. Why not establish a multi-religion council to serve as the government for Jerusalem? It all seems so simple, yet so mind-bending. It almost makes me sad that something as common and human as religion seems to be the root cause of a lot of our problems. Heck, some religions even fight amongst themselves. Look at the Sunnis and Shi'ites in Iraq- both Muslim, both willing to kill each other. There are varying degrees of Christianity here in America. It could be said that the evangelical Christian Church has different principles than say a Lutheran church in Iowa. So why is it that we can't break down these barriers and work together? Why can't we just be friends? Why can't we just all get along? Maybe we should just pop in High School Musical.