President Bush is a Dog

I never thought I’d say it, but President Bush and I have something in common: We were both born in a Year of the Dog.

According to the Chinese Zodiac, the year a person is born corresponds to an animal. Each animal repeats every 12 years in a cyclical pattern. Supposedly, the animal of your birth year is a strong indicator of personality.

We Dogs are somewhat selfish, terribly stubborn, and eccentric. Yet we possess the best traits of human nature. Dog people make good leaders. We have a deep sense of loyalty, are honest, and inspire other people’s confidence because we know how to keep secrets. We can be cold emotionally and sometimes distant at parties. Dog people can find fault with many things and are noted for their sharp tongues.

While my tongue is feeling as sharp as ever at the moment, I’ll leave it up to you to decide how well Bush and I respectively conform to these characteristics.

President Bush is currently the leader of a country born in 1776, the Year of the Monkey. Monkeys are remarkably inventive and original and can solve the most difficult problems with ease. They want to do things now, and if they cannot get started immediately, they become discouraged and sometimes leave their projects. Although good at making decisions, they tend to look down on others. Having common sense, Monkeys have a deep desire for knowledge and have excellent memories. Monkeys are strong willed but their anger cools quickly.

Again, I’ll leave it up to you to decide how well the United States has lived up to these characteristics.

Iraq, liberated from British rule in 1932 and officially sovereign from US invasion in 2004 is doubly a Monkey. Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Morocco, and Tunisia are also Monkeys. Pope John Paul II, Sarah McLachlan, Tony Hawk, Alice Walker, Jerry Springer, George Lucas, and Paul Wellstone are all Monkeys as well.

So what?

Well I don’t know about you, but I never much thought many of the aforementioned Monkeys had anything in common until just now. I’ve been so focused on differences and disagreements that I failed to find the connections and common ground present all around.

Republican Senator Norm Coleman from Minnesota has always received my deepest disdain. I do not believe I have ever agreed with him on anything. Yet a few weeks ago, he voted in line with my values on two bills (funding Medicaid and protecting ANWR from oil drilling). This did little to cure my broad cynicism, but it destroyed my once static conception of him.

Perhaps when it really comes down to it, we all need to change our focus. Had I taken the time to look for common ground, I would have known that Coleman and I agreed on these issues. Perhaps there are other as-of-yet undiscovered similarities that I should seek out and encourage action on now.

We cannot survive if all we do is focus on differences. While differences and diversity on all levels are enduringly important, we must not discount our similarities—even if they come in the form of the Chinese Zodiac.