Saturday’s shooting should drive us to mercy over political victories

Saturday’s attempted assassination of former President Trump likely dredged up some old feelings, reopened some old wounds and rekindled old worries for many. And, unfortunately, it seems to be human nature that we jump to the told-you-so moments before we ever consider the callous we’re fostering over our souls in a time of tragedy. 

It’d be easy to make any number of remarks about what led to the shots which wounded the former president, injured two others and killed one more — not to mention the bullet killed the attacker in turn. And, as much as I’d like to say all of this came as a shock, the truth is none of it is nearly as surprising in the national political scene as it might have been just a few years ago. 

We’ve done this to ourselves — emphasis on we. 

As I sat listening to the news Saturday, I found my mind drifting to a church pew I sat in a few weeks back. My nephew was sitting in the row ahead of me, and he was engrossed in a spiffy illustrated Bible. The pages were open to a story which I knew well, because it was one of my favorites when I was young — the time David cut off a piece of King Saul’s robe while the king took a bathroom break in a cave (seriously, it’s in there — 1 Samuel 24).

Now, obviously, any young boy will at first be magnetized to the modicum of toilet humor in the passage, but what really stuck with me through the years was the image of the visceral mercy David displayed. Of course, you’ve got to understand the context of his choice — David was literally running for his life, because Saul aimed to kill David in order to ensure David would never usurp him for the throne. The two men used to be friends, but later in life they found themselves in different camps (again, literally) because of what one could arguably call the politics of the day — public opinion was starting to heavily favor David in those days.

But while Saul was bent on violence, David couldn’t bring himself to do the same, even when Saul inadvertently made himself the easiest target in the world by choosing to do his business in the very cave where David and his allies were hiding. Instead, David used his knife to only take what he needed to prove he’d stayed his hand when the opportunity for more bloodshed presented itself. 

Despite all that had happened, despite all the attempts on his life, David still had the clarity of mind to see that killing the opposition wouldn’t solve anything — it would just mean he’d killed his friend. 

David chose mercy over an immediate victory. 

And I think Saturday’s shooting presents us all with a similar choice — our instincts tell us to capitalize on the tragedy and score political points, but we can also choose to exercise compassion for those we’ve long considered enemies. Yes, we can point the finger at this campaign ad from the one side or that tweet from the other — and again, I have no problem doing the both-sides thing in this case — but it won’t do us any good in the end. 

But to be clear, I’m not trying to tell anyone how to vote. Indeed, what I’m trying to say is that I believe this is a moment in history when all of us should look far beyond the ballot box and into the eyes of our fellow human beings without questioning what primary color their ill-defined team wears. 

I’ve had my issues with the former president and the actions he took during his time in the White House, but it would cross a line to take joy in the violence he and others experienced over the weekend.

He and the other victims do indeed deserve our prayers and our concern, because we can’t truly claim to be compassionate if we’re only compassionate toward those who are comfortably within our own meager slice of the world.

That’s not an easy path for some of us, but it’s the right path — I won’t say the high road, because that implies a superiority of one side versus the other. It’s the path which runs counter to taking the upper hand at the expense of our neighbor’s toes.

So, rather than letting this latest instance of gun violence become cause for further polarization between friends and neighbors — for more finger pointing, for more name calling and ultimately more violence — I say we turn this thing on its head and make Saturday’s violence the final punctuation mark in a dark chapter of American politics — one that’s followed by a return to the days when we sought common ground and open discussion in pursuit of honest solutions.

It’s time we show ourselves we can still be more than we have been these last several years. It’s time to remind ourselves partisan victories can’t be propelled by temporary gains at the cost of an opponent’s blood (be it literal or figurative). That’s the choice that’s been before all of us for years, and I dare say we’ve all to often made the wrong choice time after time. 

But my hope is that we’ll learn this time around.

It’s too late to stop the blood. 

It’s too late to save the dead. 

But it’s not too late to stop running along the road which got us here. 

Agree with Seth? Think he’s got it completely backwards or he’s missed the point entirely? Let your voice be heard. Letters to the editor may be emailed to editor@decorahleader.com or dropped off at 110 Washington St. Suite 4 in Decorah.