"Hatred is corrosive of a person's wisdom and conscience; the mentality of enmity can poison a nation's spirit, instigate brutal life and death struggles, destroy a society's tolerance and humanity, and block a nation's progress to freedom and democracy."
AUBURN — I voted for President Obama, and like many voters, I sometimes disagree with the commander in chief, but his common-sense approach to these inane terror attacks works for me.
How many times do you see politicians employ common sense whenever they open their mouths? We are often treated to nonsensical sound bites from presidential contenders like Donald Trump. Some of our nation's leaders sound just like the rantings and ravings of posters on news web sites. What a bunch of angry people we have become, and you can’t solely blame our negative actions on terrorists.
Was it necessary for the president to take center stage on national television Sunday night?
You bet!
After what transpired in San Bernardino, Calif., and in Paris, and the frequency of terrorist attacks across the globe, we needed to hear what OUR president had to say.
Look, I never understood why background checks and gun control are an issue. There are people who shouldn’t own a water pistol, never mind high-powered semis which make mince meat out of human beings. I also realize the significance of the second amendment and the fact that this nation was settled with a gun.
At this point, don’t go shopping for a gun just yet even though I have one in the house, too, but owning a rifle doesn’t insure my family’s safety. Every time a deranged individual attacks an abortion clinic, we get a glimpse of our own home-grown terrorists who also use religion to justify homicide — with a rifle, of course.
But terrorism’s roots run deep and there are numerous reasons why people commit nefarious acts. Through the ages, all three monotheism's have experienced radicalism and its violent repercussions.
If hatred prevails and we single out people because of their beliefs, beliefs that I may not share, then chalk one up for terrorists who have succeeded in making a mockery out democracy and fools out of all of us.
I had no problem with law enforcement converting the terrorists’ SUV into the Bonny-and-Clyde death car after police were fired upon by these killers. Police did their job and saved us a costly trial. Anybody of sound mind does not want to hear assassins spouting their warped ideology in an American court of law.
This violent couple presented a clear and present danger to citizens, and law enforcement acted appropriately. Good people were caught in a crossfire of malevolence in San Bernardino, and all I can do is offer my condolences to the families — and my sympathy is not enough to console all those grieving souls — especially during the holidays.
I will never understand a person who claims to be religious, arms himself, chooses a soft target and begins blasting away like a gunman at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Ariz. How can hateful propaganda or a video streamed across the Internet inspire someone, anyone, to commit mayhem? Using a gun to make a point and murder dozens of fellow human beings is a senseless act and their point is lost right after the first shot is fired.
Martin Luther King and his followers never fired a shot, but his words and devotion inspired a generation of young people, black and white, to act without picking up a pistol. They demonstrated, marched and withstood the water hoses and painful beatings, and they were only armed with the belief that all men are created equal.
We are not a perfect nation and there are several episodes in our history where we failed to live up to the phrase. Slavery, the subjugation of native Americans, the internment of Japanese Americans and exploiting cheap immigrant labor to satisfy a growing nation are a part of our dark past, but every nation has experienced growing pains at the expense of its citizens.
I offer no excuses for our embarrassing past, but we have come a long way thanks to a bitter civil war and a civil rights movement 100 years later that allowed us to turn the corner when it comes to hate and indifference. It was a long moment in history where citizens, black and white, made their point without resorting to violence.
Rounding up Muslims or tossing them out of this country is a nasty step backward, and anybody who understands the U.S. Constitution knows that. Remember, when Italians, Jews, Irish and Asians came here, U.S. corporations had no problems exploiting them for cheap labor. Our new countrymen experienced racism and indifference, and yet they still made their way in a nation that took them for granted and still helped build bustling nation from the ground up.
That is why turning on any group of people is simply wrong and gives every damn terrorists a reason to smile. This kind of thinking triggered the Holocaust and has been the catalyst for all genocides in every generation. There is no justification for murder — and that includes piety.
I’d like think all Americans are smarter than that. If we begin lashing out against a certain group of people, then terrorism wins and all our ideals mean nothing.
What would our founding fathers say?
Keep that thought in mind during Christmas and Hanukkah this holiday season.
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