By Phillip Fullman.
A Baptist, a Catholic, a Jew, and a Muslim...
Sounds like the start of a bad joke doesn't it? Except, it's not. A Baptist, a Catholic, a Jew, and a Muslim were sitting at En Fuego discussing sports, movies, education, and food, which proved to be a rather popular topic. One of us also happens to be a proud New Yorker, who explained to the rest of the group why New York pizza is supposed to be the best. Apparently it all comes down to the cheese/crust/sauce ratio.
The most popular topic though was also the one that brought the four us together. Cigars. It was because of our mutual enjoyment of, and appreciation for fine tobacco that we found ourselves at En Fuego. Each of us with a burning cigar, each of us filling the air with plumes of smoke, and ashtrays with gray ruins. We weren't strangers, we weren't enemies, we weren't different. We were just people with a shared love of cigars.
The best way to get over our differences is to focus on what we have in common. Granted, that is not the easiest thing to do.
Think about the phrase "your fellow man." Now think about the view of earth from outer space. There are no political, ethnic, or religious borders. Only one planet, with one people. I imagine this is how God sees us, regardless of whether He is Baptist, Catholic, Jewish, or Muslim.
Outside the walls of the cigar shop there are people who will judge us for our beliefs- for some our love of cigars is reason enough to vilify us- because they see us as different, which makes me think, the world would be a better place if it were more like En Fuego.
