As much as I have worked through hate for Donald Trump I have not reached the depths of wanting him to suffer. An attempt on his life was made. A young adult, perched himself on a rooftop overlooking the event space for a Trump rally. While Donald was performing, the young man took aim and fired a long distance rifle shot. The young boy unleashed the next round of spectacle and delivered tragedy and disappointment on us. He has doused the flames of discontent with more malice. I look back at the event and see how its chaos is a good reflection point for me.
What happens next will inform us about who we are? I’d like to spend time on the we in question being the us as a country, but I am stuck on the we as a political mechanism. I hope there is humanism in the situation. I hope I am surprised by Donald’s responses. I hope I am surprised by the sympathy that comes from our civic leadership. I am ready to work through the opposite and typical bipartisan extremes. I wonder how we will reflect on the symptom of violence as a preferential response to disagreement. I am expecting the typical marketing spin, immature exploitation of the circumstances, the propagandizing of it, and the lack of curiosity for how we continue to rely on ending each other.
It seems appropriate to start with myself, for retrospect. When I first heard that he was shot at, I didn’t believe it. That quickly transitioned to skepticism that it was likely staged. Then as more reliable sources were reporting on it, I felt shame for my own lack of sympathy for the man. I feel disappointed that I didn’t have a strong sense of concern for his security. I am asked to love my enemy, and this revealed to me that I have not evolved in this area of my faith. I am ashamed that I even felt some feelings of redemption for all the asinine things he’s said and done.
I don’t want him as my President. I do want him humbled. I do wish him justice for the hurts he has caused and I do compassionately feel that he deserves love. Without letting go the anger and disappointment for who Donald has been, I can hold lightly the humanistic love for him and the suffering he must thrive in to have motivated a young man to hunt him down. May I grow from my shortcomings and may we all analyze our responses. My work is to enhance how I we see my enemies.
