I was going to write on a different topic for my biweekly blog, but I am postponing it for another time. For the past week I have been in Pennsylvania visiting family. I am not in the Pittsburgh area, but I could feel the shock waves here in eastern Pennsylvania nonetheless. Of course, I mean the Impact of the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill section of Pittsburgh. I listened to a news conference this morning. The chief of police, a spokesperson from the FBI, mayor, medical examiner, and the president of a local Jewish organization all spoke. To a person, they stressed working together and being one as a community to confront the hatred and violence perpetrated at the synagogue.
Sadness and anger welled up in me. I have just had enough of these expressions of rage, anger and violence. Earlier in the week there were pipe bombs sent through the mail to particular individuals, there was a shooting at a department store leaving two people dead after the perpetrator was unable to enter an African American church and focused his rage elsewhere.
Aside from the emotions I feel, two important issues stand out. First, spoken words matter, especially those by our leaders. It is never acceptable to vilify, blame, or insinuate blame on a group of people. Period!
The second issue is about who we are as a nation. I think of the slogan on our coins. I just checked a penny, nickel, dime, and quarter. They each had it, “e pluribus unum,” or out of many, one. I know what that means to me. Out of many states, one nation, out of many peoples, one people. I also think of one of the last phrases in our Pledge of Allegiance, “with liberty and justice for all.” I know we have never lived up to these ideals as a nation. Our history of slavery, Jim Crow, and the decimation of the original people living in this land testify to that. But I also believe that this has also been our goal to achieve as a nation, to come as close as possible to a unity of acceptance and respect for all people.
Let us wake up, come back to our senses, reach out to one another, and start to find our way back to the path that can move us toward our ideals.