An article on the bombing attempts was recently shared to my page by a friend who is a Trump supporter. The comments were somewhat appalling, considering the subject. They ranged from cheering the bomber on, to snarky remarks regarding the wall around one of the victims domiciles. The latter comment was rather amusing, since I can look down any street where I live (semi rural and mixed lower to upper middle class} and see privacy walls in abundance. I have no quarrel with those who have different political leanings than myself, but I find my psyche in a fight between anger and sorrow that many in our society now believe it is “fun” to throw out crass comments and hate messages over a national emergency that could easily have turned into tragedy.

Do I scream or weep when people do not seem to care that a postal worker, a housekeeper, a nurse, or an apolitical bystander could have been killed? Does it matter that you did not agree with an ex-president, is that disagreement worthy of killing said president? He no longer holds power. Most ex-presidents from either party are working on projects to help the nation or the world. When the Republicans suffered an attack while playing baseball everyone was appalled and democrats reached out to their republican compatriots with sadness and compassion. When Gabby Gifford was shot the entire legislative body was hoping and praying for her survival. Today we cannot see past our red haze of hate. For what? Why do you hate so ferociously? What is happening.. TO YOU…that justifies such hatred for people you only know through the news and talk show bubbles? I cannot find such hate in myself. Disgust for some of the dialogue, yes. Dislike of the lying, of course. Uneasiness at the direction the politicians are taking us, absolutely. But hate? So much hate that I would feel gleeful at certain individuals death by violence? Sorry, that is not in my DNA.

Immediately following the realization that bombs were in the mail to Democrats the alt right theorized that the Democratic party was sending them to their own in order to anger their base. It turned out that the perpetrator was a middle aged white Republican male with a van covered in love Trump hate Dems posters. He was, according to some conspiracy wonks, a plant. The posters adorning the van were “obviously” new, and he was really a registered Democrat. Never mind that there are pictures of his van, covered in said posters, from last year. Never mind that there are videos of the alleged bomber at Trump rallies. Never mind all the hate posts they have found in his social media participation. Never mind that he is actually a registered Republican.

The truth is his party of choice, and/or his belief system, really is not the issue. There are some great Republicans who do not view the “loyal opposition” as enemies and want to work together. This is one man, who found someone he could agree with, who enjoyed common “enemies”, and his badly wired brain short circuited.

My daughter used to train aspiring equestriennes, she is still busy training our horses. Her mantra for both activities is balance. She has also been a trainer at her place of work, same message. Listen to motivational speakers, it is often about life balance. Our country is now in deep distress because we have lost the kind of balance necessary for politics, and society, to flourish in a positive way. I am unsure that we will ever find that balance again short of a war or depression so devastating that it wakes us up and brings people together. We are seeing an uptick in violence against the “other” unprecedented in recent history.

We are a diverse citizenry and that horse has left the barn, we will continue to be diverse which is not a tragedy, or even a negative for the country. If you can’t find it in yourself to embrace diversity and opposing ideas, please at least accept them. Non-acceptance leads to hate, hate leads to social media vitriol, vitriol…on line or from the White House…leads to angry, somewhat unhinged individuals taking  action in ways that lead to death and tragedy. In one week one such individual tried to assassinate the most visible Democrats, another tried to get into a black church to murder the congregation, and a third murdered members of the Jewish community. Please ask yourself, is this the kind of country you want to live in? Does this make America great? No, among other things, it makes America sad.

“Anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering”   Matthew Dowd (ABC Political Analyst)