Throwing shoes and other unmentionables

I was reading some posts about the reporter that threw the shoes at President George W. Bush. My initial reaction was “Good, I just wish he had hit him in head or better yet, used a bullet.” Then I thought about my shadow. I believe that we all have a shadow and that if we don’t deal with our shadow, it will slowly kill us. I believe that Bush, or in all actuality, Bush’s mindset, is my shadow. His seemingly inability to care for others, think with an open mind or realize that he is the creator of the hatred and terror that he is afraid of is utterly destructive.

Simply said, Bush stands for everything I abhor. That is such a simplistic and easy answer. In reality it means that I need to examine myself and how I react when I am faced with opinions and ideas that are differnt from mine. I need to realize that, even if I think they are absolutely wrong, I need to find something that connects me with that person and their beliefs. If arguing and anger would have changed their minds, it would have already have happened. If love and acceptance can’t do it, at least I know I didn’t add to the distrust and anger in the world.

I look at all the different wars that have been fought through history and it saddens me. When people talk of the different wars, and why their were righteous, I tend to think of the “Christmas Truce” of World War I. There was a truce declared on Christmas Eve, 1914 when the Germans started decorating their trenches in Ypres, Belgium. The Scottish troops in the trenches on the other side responded by singing carols. Both sides continued singing to each other and then, amazingly, the soldiers came out of the trenches and shared gifts with each other. Eventually, the two “waring” sides played soccer and, it seems, became friends. The British Generals, Sir John French and Sir Horrace Smith-Dorrien vowed that there would never be another Christmas Truce. The reason? The soldiers actually stopped the war and the Generals had to bring in new soldiers because the soldiers no longer wanted to kill someone they knew as friends. The reason I bring this up is that when we see people as they are, instead of dehumanizing them, it is easy to see how immoral it is to hurt them. Everyone has a right to live and be treated with respect. I will try my best to do just that.