By the time you read this, whether in print or online, you will have heard this word on the lips of almost everyone you meet. You will have read or heard many versions of the event of July 13, when a 20-year-old man attempted to assassinate former president and aspiring candidate, Donald J. Trump.
Normally, national stories don’t fall within the perimeter of a newspaper whose very name defines our borders. Normally, we would not attempt to enlarge upon a story so definitively covered by media all over the world. However, this isn’t normal. This isn’t a story that lives large for a day or two and then recedes into the place where trivial news goes to die. This affects all of us in our county, whether we are supporters of Trump, Biden, or neither.
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What if it had happened only a few short weeks ago here
in Wildwood, on the densely packed sands of our beach?”
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Once again, a person has attempted to sabotage our political process by using violence against an adversary. Motives? At this time, no one knows what drove this young man to kill. Even though he failed to hit his target, innocent bystanders were cut down by his bullets. Broken hearts and lives litter the field in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Trump was making his appeal to voters.
Many people in our county, only a few short weeks ago, gathered on a beach in Wildwood, and they may be wondering, “Why Butler, Pennsylvania? What if it had happened here in Wildwood on the densely packed sands of our beach?” Our county is widely known to be largely Republican, but all of us mourn the loss of respect for our system, respect for human life, and respect for the right to disagree vociferously but peacefully. We mourn for all of those things, but we do not mourn as those who have no hope. Where the axe is taken to the Tree of Liberty, those who believe in it must rise and roar a resounding note as we go to the polls and cast our votes.
We must roar “No” to the politicians who want to assign all that is evil to an opponent. We think of words like “Nazi,” “dictator,” “end of democracy,” “clown,” “old man,” “libtards,” “Trump puppets,” and so many more. Each person who feels passionately about this cause must examine his heart and root out the condescension, hate, and disdain, if it be there, for fellow Americans. If we do not do that, from the top of the ticket to the person who casts his vote, we chop at our precious Tree of Liberty, and soon we’ll reach that inner core where its lifeblood flows.
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From the Bible: A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. – The words of Jesus Christ, as reported in John 13:34
