Throwing shoes...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - President George W. Bush wrapped up a whirlwind trip to two war zones Monday that in many ways was a victory lap without a clear victory. A signature event occurred when an Iraqi reporter hurled two shoes at Bush, an incident the president called "a bizarre moment."

OK...I get that, on one level at least, this is just funny...at least to American sensibilities. But for Middle-Easterners, it is a deep insult. Remember the pictures of all the Iraqis beating the toppled statue of Saddam shortly after American troops took Baghdad? They certainly weren't expressing their love or simply trying to knock the sand out from between the treads.

Let me suggest, as well, that the shoe-thrower is perfectly free to express himself whether I happen to appreciate it or not. What really bothers me about this is the smirking, giggling, "boy, he got what was comin' to him" reaction I've heard from so many Americans...especially those who consider themselves Christian.

An insult...in any language or culture...is, by definition, an attack on basic human dignity. It is meant to reduce your opponent to the status of non-person...someone we might permissibly abuse or even kill. Of course, it is perfectly acceptable to disagree with one another. But it seems antithetical to our faith to debase one another...or to accept/permit/enjoy such behavior from others. And while I would make no claims of moral equivalence, it's certainly not too long a distance from hurling shoes to hurling hand grenades.

I'm sorry Bush's attacker felt that there was no other way to express his outrage. But this incident deserves a more mature response than a snicker. To do so denigrates both the "thrower" and President Bush, and only prolongs our inability to deal with each other as fellow human beings and children of the same heavenly Father. I'm guessing that there are more constructive ways of engaging one another...one that does not involve tossing either articles of clothing or weapons of mass destruction.