Hand Me Down Beliefs

There is very little that everyone on the planet has in common with his fellow man, but we all share one thing. We are all brought up to believe what our neighborhood support system believes, at least at first.

Family, friends, teachers, and the community we live in all shape our belief system, at least through our formative years. Local and national religious beliefs offer a clear example. If you are born in Japan you will likely become a Christian since Japan has the largest concentration of Christians on the planet. If you are born in India you will most likely be Hindu, or in China a Buddhist. If you are born in Utah, USA you will most likely become a Mormon.

As a result of the cacooning nature of local bias, people seldom question their own given belief system. Instead, they question and challenge all belief systems different than their own. Unfortunately, in some cases, countries go to war over differences in their beliefs

It is OK to disagree. It is OK to hold strong opinions. It is, IMHO, insane to fight or go to war over hand me down beliefs. Sane people will agree that as long as your belief system doesn't require me to change my life we can co-exist peacefully. So why is our country at war? Constantly!!! No nation on earth infringes upon us, our beliefs, or our way of life. (A cynic may say none would dare, and they would be correct.)

Are we insane? We are currently involved in several presidential wars at a cost in excess of a trillion dollars. Neither the world and its citizens nor the USA and its citizens benefit, with the exception of the war mongers and their manufacturers and merchants of death. How can we preach "love one another" while we are blowing the bejesus out of the middle east?

While claiming to be a friend to the planet, we are by far its biggest polluter
per capita. Why do we in this country seem to have magoo style lenses when we look at ourselves? We seem incapable of coming to grips with our nation's hyprocracy. Who are we really?