US Representative Veronica Escobar, who represents the El Paso district where 20 people were killed at a Walmart, said that “We not only have a gun epidemic in our country but we also have a hate epidemic.”
White House Chief of Staff Mark Mulvaney said that "We need to fix society."
We agree.
Whether through our words or our ways, our country is demonstrating a culture of violence and hate. This is spurred on by feelings of victimization and anger that are encouraged by racism, nativism, name-calling and fear-mongering. If we are to protect our children as well as our democracy, we need to dial down the negativity and embrace positivity. We must teach our children that there are positive (and civil) solutions to every problem, that anger is a call to seek help, not to lash out, and that together we can work things out. It may sound too simple for some, but we believe that America needs to get back to a country of kindness, respect and love. Then, many of the other problems will take care of themselves.
As Dr. Leonard McCoy said in the original "Star Trek," "Compassion: that's the one thing no machine ever had. Maybe it's the one thing that keeps men ahead of them." If we teach this to our children, if we repeat it to our friends, if we embed this in our culture, we will create a better America than the one we currently see.
Stuart Muszynski
President and CEO
Values-in-Action Foundation
Cell 216-650-0463