To representatives of the world's religions:

God; whether you call him or her God, Allah, Vishnu, Yahweh, Buddha, or any other name, is Perfect Love.  Any Law that is written in any holy text, book, tract or scroll that seeks to divide one group of humans from another is not God's Law, but ours. When we seek out our differences and use them to make judgments that one group is somehow less than the other, even by something so small as their understanding of God, then we are practicing an imperfect love. This is not the Perfect Love of God.

So go to your holy books and texts and look for those places where division is called for. They exist in every book. I have read them in new testaments of the Bible, in the Tripitaka, in the Q'uran, in the Upanishads, the Laws of Manu, and the Torah. But I am just a rank amateur. Go you, holy men and women, experts in your practice, and find these things in your own texts. Find these places where your texts have this imperfect love, and call out your own faults. Discuss them amongst yourselves, in your own houses, and discuss them openly, with others.

In order for us to have peace, each of us must admit we are imperfect. No disagreement was ever solved without each party admitting their part in it. You can neither win nor lose an argument with a person who declares themselves perfect; such a person is unreasonable – there is truly no reasoning with them. By declaring perfection, you give others a choice: they can yield to you, go around you if possible, or fight with you. Ask yourself what is in the nature of most humans and you will see why it is important to admit imperfection.

My German Mother, Part One

Making travel arrangements. Email sent to commiserative brother.  I have two younger brothers, and we've all been involved in the odyssey of organizing our mother's vacation. "I'm getting old, you know. Zis may be my last trip to Europe."

Hotel report:

After two three-hour sessions on separate weekends, not including meals (OK, so I like the free food part, just not the choosing of the restaurant) she has reservations for a hotel in Berlin for 4 nights. I now also know things about Czechoslovakia and Paris that I really could have lived the rest of my life without knowing. Do you know that she clutches my mouse hand when we look stuff up and yells that I'm going too fast? At least she bends when sitting in the chair and doesn't suck her teeth when I click [reader, she does these things when I drive]. Maybe next year.

Four days ago, we got to the online reservation form at a Czech hotel, and she didn't let me hit 'send' after entering her credit card. The next day we decided she would skip Prague and go to Paris for 4 days instead.

Yesterday, I spent an hour on the phone selecting a Paris hotel ("What are you doing? I can't SEE! Gina, what are you Reading?"), getting a good rate, and clicked 'book it'. Silence on the other end. Then, "You knoww, can you maybe check deh rates at zeh Marriott? Your Brusser is a big macher sehre." th th th...

I made no attempt to shield my baby brother. I gave her the names of the two best Marriott hotel group options in Paris, and threw the fat cockeyed bastard under the bus. She's planning on calling him tomorrow.