The caustic political verbiage which has been the benchmark for our current presidential campaign came to a sudden stall with the horrendous news event this past Saturday in Pennsylvania, at least for now.
Frankly, one would have to be totally lacking humanity with not having the ability to express empathy for those involved, especially given all of the denigrating rhetoric from those political sides who may have been instrumental with inciting an attempted assassination of a presidential candidate and the heartbreaking murder of an innocent man along with injuries to others.
So, where do we go from here, a momentary pause, a patronizing return to civility, for possibly a few days, even a week? Of course, as would be expected, there have been predictable ramblings from a few opposing sides along with an eerie silence in my own circle from those not sharing similar political views anywhere on social media, almost as if people of a differing political persuasion are unable to reach into their minds, hearts, and offer even the smallest conciliatory statement, choosing instead to post some almost antiseptic meme or nondescript photograph when they do come up for air.
What the hell, people, is it that difficult to step up, speak out, and offer the usual thoughts and prayers in face of an unthinkable event or are your political beliefs dragging you down to sleep with the fishes like Luca Brasi?
Sad, in so many ways that, as human beings, there are those of us lacking the ability to express empathy for others while setting aside our hatred, our differences, while being damn thankful that there, but for the grace of God, could have gone any one of us this past weekend.
Again, what’s next, some of soul-searching while making an effort to meet others in the middle and acknowledge political differences with a bit of intelligent, not condescending, respect? A simple statement, suggested by the current leader of our country is “it’s time to cool it”; a plea for unity, an attempt to heal a fractured country in an election with extremely high stakes.
Cool it, we will; just remember to practice what you’re preaching, JRB.
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