Humble Humans as Vampire Food

Vampires fascinate me. I don't remember a time when I was fascinated by vampires. Werewolves, zombies, and other fantastical creatures are cool, too.... but they never had the allure that the undead did.

There have been as many interpretations and "rules" about vampires as denominations of Christianity. For instance, they come out in the sun and sparkle or they burn instantly into a pile of ashes and dust. Some people survive being bitten, some die, some turn into vampires after ingesting vampire blood. There are variations on healing powers, enchantment, pleasure/pain, how they sleep, sex drives, and so on. You must approach each "denomination" with eyes and ears open for the differences. (Reference: Twilight Series, Sookie Stackhouse Series, Anne Rice, House of Night young adult fiction series, Buffy, and more.)

The consistent threads in vampire folklore are never the vampires themselves for those rules flux and change from one category to the next. What is consistent and fascinating for me is always the relationship vampires have with humans. The reaction on the human side varies from curiosity to fear and from acceptance to murder. On the flip side, some vampires dismiss the sanctity of human life and devalue them merely as "blood bags." They are the superior race. These vampires are in conflict with the vampires who, for whatever reason, value human life. Sometimes it is their memory of their own human life and their longing for that life once again. Other times, there is a love interest and this shakes up the food chain. And then there are those who simply value humans and see them as equals in this mortal world (though there is also a motivation to get along with humans for selfish desires and ease of "living.")

It always seems to paint an interesting portrait of our own values of humans. Who do we value? See as equals? What is simply around us for the taking? When do our own thoughts of being superior lead to death of the inferior?

It is timely always as we, humanity, lift up lives to preserve and lives to destroy. Casualties in war that are listed as a cold statistic... and often this number reflects only the soldiers on one side of the war - forget the other enemy soldiers or civilians on either side. There are the deaths of homosexual youth catching the attention of the media right now. This is also seen within the church as questions rage on about whether or not it is a sin and how to respond to those brothers and sisters who are GLBTQ or those who believe differently about it than we personally do. And I stand as a woman in a world and culture where we are often devalued, even if jokingly or in jest by well intentioned males.

How do we treat those whom are different than us? How do we value the lives of humans (think outside of family and friends here, even outside your faith or country)? The life of creation as we see it in animals, plants, water, and air? Are we curious or outraged? Accepting or rejecting? How does this effect the world around us, beyond our own front doors?

So while there might be something sinister or Freudian about undead creatures who feed off the blood of humans, what does it say about them that it is human blood that sustains them? Then of course I start to wonder what sustains me that I take for granted daily - a warm bed, food, clean air, sunlight, family and friends, a savior on a cross, technology, the ability to read and write and connect through the internet to the world.

I am humbled.