Related articles and links |  1 of 3

A full gob of spittle landed in my face right outside my home in the center of Washington. It emanated from a black-clad and masked anarchist, who participated in an antiwar rally on Rhode Island Avenue, between hotels and apartment buildings.

I have always had a low tolerance for people who hide their visages. They are cowards, aren't they? Terrorists do that sort of thing. So I asked the little creep, "What are you covering your face for?"

He lifted his mask just long enough to aim his saliva in my direction.

Now, here's the irony. He was American and against the Iraq campaign; I am a German and, well, not exactly enthused by any kind of war, though I do consider the current action necessary, given what I have known for a long time about Saddam Hussein and his weapons program.

But the anarchist and I didn't have time to discuss this. The little coward ran before I could place my two hands firmly around his neck.

This may not have been a very Christian intention on my part. As a Christian, I am beholden to forgive, and I guess I have. However, at the risk of being assigned a particularly low-flying cloud in the Hereafter, I must confess to a fair measure of German Schadenfreude when in his rush to get away from me my aggressor fell flat on his face.

Change of scene: As a European living in the United States, I increasingly receive wrenching calls from friends in France and Germany, imploring me to inform the Americans how deeply they regretted the rupture in the friendship between their countries and the United States.

"Please, please, please tell your American friends that many of us are disgusted with the politics of Jacques Chirac," a Frenchwoman said. And a retired editor-in-chief from Germany was literally in tears when we discussed the comportment of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

What appalled these thoughtful people most, though, were newspaper reports that German and French children attending schools in the United States were being taunted and harassed by their American classmates and even teachers.

"My God," the Frenchwoman said, "we have been such good friends for so long, and now our kids are being taught to hate each other!"

Perhaps the worst story reached me from Hamburg, Germany. An entire class was about to fly to Tennessee on an exchange visit. Suddenly, the Tennessee partner school withdrew the invitation, arguing that it did not want these young Germans to bring their "anti-Americanism" to this country.

Presumably, these Tennesseans consider themselves good Christians. What, one wonders, made God-fearing people like these think that mere kids, far too young to vote, would be an appropriate target venting the Americans' anger with Schroeder?

Why would the Tennesseans not warmly embrace these children to show them what Americans are really like? Why would they plant in these boys and girls, who were eagerly looking forward to their stay in the United States, the seed of hatred? What attitude toward strangers—especially the innocent—do these teachers and parents convey to the American children in their care? Surely it can't be a biblical view.

Again, are we not called to forgive even bigots like that? Perhaps the Hamburg kids will do so in time. What about God, though? Here the Tennesseans pose a profound theological question, for theirs is an act of self-righteousness, which is diametrically opposed to the only righteousness before God, which is in Christ.

In other words, punishing kids for their government's policy is decidedly an act of unrighteousness.

next page... |  1 of 3

March (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47