138 Inflation of Life

A life isn't worth much these days. A Muslim life, that is. I, as a Christian, may - and perhaps must- say that.

While the stabbing to death of a pregnant Egyptian woman in a German courtroom by one of the millions of Stalin's souvenirs that are waiting to let loose their version of "Helter Skelter" on the European population evoked a minuscule fraction of coverage in the German press that a Jewish or "Christian," or simply non-Muslim victim would have eked out, American war heroes make a sport of bombing Afghan weddings and paying relatives of the victims 2000 bucks for each victimized child, the "most moral army" in the world seated in the Promised Land explains to the world why it's totally legitimate to kill Palestinian civilians in order not to risk the life of an Israeli soldier.

Relatives of American victims of war receive a fifty-fold sum of what Afghan (or Pakistani) relatives of victims are paid off with, by the way.

Slavery may have been abolished (although I seriously doubt it when I watch the masses trot to their working places and back every day), but the value system of human life is till intact.

On the slave market of the 21st century, the price tag on an American reads "100.000$ (delivered in oak)."

An Afghan or Pakistani child: "2000$ (plighwood)."

An Egyptian woman and her unborn child: "3 lines on page 5."

A homosexual American pop star and child abuser: Front page coverage and more pages and pages on every Western tabloid, magazine and online news service for weeks in a row.

An Israeli soldier: "1000 Palestinean pairs of eyes and sets of teeth, just to make sure one of ours won't lose his."


Ah, it's great to live in such an enlightened, modern and democratic society, isn't it? It makes my chest swell with pride, the way we proclaim freedom from shore to shore in our own special, little, Western way.

After all, it must be pride, or simply unfathomable arrogance that enables so-called "evolved" human beings with half a brain to come up with such an intricate system of values.

It's true, I have my own issues with Muslims. Since they have become the epitome of "Terror" under the Bush administration (or was any non-Muslim ever attacked during that glorious "War on Terror?") they've had to go on the defensive.
They've started reading the Koran in order to find out what they're being haunted for, and unlike the hundreds of thousands of lukewarm Christians lulling themselves to sleep on their pews, they have some fire and devotion for their religion. That is, of course, very bothersome and aggravating for our society of pew warmers.
I would also prefer to see them all converted to my own Christian faith, (although I'd hate to see another billion of pew warmers, to be honest).
But at the current rate, I'm afraid our method of enlightenment isn't cutting the cake.

In fact, if I were a Muslim, I wouldn't trust a Christian any further than I could throw my 40 year old pick up truck, not to mention members of other Western "enlightened" religions currently on the market.

I guess if you would fall into my country, kill a million of my people, and then hold a gun to my head and say, "Join our wonderful, enlightened Western society that is bringing freedom and democracy to your country and your whole bunch of backward pagans," I would reply, "In the name of Allah, shoot!"

But that's just me. The millions around me in my country couldn't care less about what's going on around them, much less in a far away desert or even in a Berlin courtroom. Maybe that's why I don't really feel at home in this world, nor am able to eke out the remotest resemblance of patriotic feelings for the life of me.

Which is why my own life probably isn't worth a dime, either, according to the current slave market rates.
I've never been a very good slave, I admit. At least not to Mammon.

But thus is the inflation of life...
None of us knows what they'll be worth tomorrow, or how much they'll be willing to pay for us next year.
I suppose what really matters is not to be found wanting when God pulls out the scales to measure what our life was really worth, according to His standard, not ours...