When I meet another person, there are four fundamental ways in which I can respond. To begin with, I can be completely indifferent, sizing the person up as nothing more than a kind of animated object unworthy of my attention. Second, I can see the person as an animated tool that I can bend to my own will. Indifference gives way here to interest, but the interest is purely instrumental. Third, I can respond to the other as a threatening adversary who needs to be vanquished quickly. Finally, I can see the person as a human being in whom God dwells.
— Kerry Walters, Jacob's Hip