As political violence runs rampant and empathy slips from our fingers, America has once again found itself at a crossroads.
It seems every day a new story of violence and disdain floods our phones and numbs our heads. For example, a hot topic right now is the Sept. 10 assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. His politically motivated killing was caught on film and has sparked an outpour of discourse. The same day, a student, who authorities claim to have been “radicalized,” critically injured two other students in a shooting in Colorado. The murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska has also gained traction as the footage of her death spreads like wildfire through various social media sites. A lesser-known example of political violence includes the murders of democratic Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her spouse that took place last summer in their home.
After everything we have worked to build, all of these situations highlight the presence of one thing that threatens to collapse it all: division.
It is so very easy, as algorithms spoon-feed opinions, tragedies and narratives, to feed into said division. It is human nature to take an interest in the world around us and build personal perceptions of how things should be. The negativity that goes with said beliefs when they are perceived to be threatened- that anger and desire to do something- it is foolish to think that will never happen. No culture, position on the political spectrum or singular person is exempt. Individual ideals and the passion to defend them is, in many ways, what makes us human. It can be a beautiful thing- it leads to change, it prevents conformity, it allows us to grow as people and as a society.
The values we all have, they are based on lines and where we draw them. However, that means the lengths to which we defend our values warrant a line of their own.
That brings significant questions: Where? Where do we draw that line? Where will division end?
The answer: each of us.
We each have a personal responsibility, one that all of us fall short of, to no matter the circumstances, love one another because of our differences, not in spite of them. We must, no matter how little love we think we are receiving from one another, be the ones to give it. It starts with empathy.
It starts with realizing that despite Kirk’s view being seen as damaging, he was still a human, with children and a future. It starts with realizing that not only was Kirk a human, but so was Hortman. There is no picking and choosing where to send our empathy. Because, then, we begin to draw our lines in biased patterns that lead to justifying violence for some and not others and never even seeing it as violence.
It starts with taking the leap to even find it within ourselves to love the people that killed Kirk and Hortman, to love the people that killed Zarutska and shot those children, not because they deserve it, but because to hate them is to go down the path that they did. History has taught us again and again that hatred is gradual, and it starts with something so blatantly justifiable in our eyes. However, because we see it as justifiable, we begin to push the line a bit farther, justifying the next thing and the next thing.
Both sides see different threats, and both sides have different justifications for actions against each threat. However, both sides are making the same grave mistake.
Because, when all is said and done, when all threats are gone and all is justified, we have one more terrifying question to face: What is left of us?