7/14/2024

July 14, 2024

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            Thanks for your remarks this evening. You provided a great example of a mature response to the assassination attempt. Time will only tell what the effect of the incident will be.

            Doris Kearns Goodwin (DKG) told the folks at NPR that history suggests that while the sympathies of the nation may be kindled temporarily as it was back in 1912 when Teddy Roosevelt was shot during his campaign to, the substance of the election eventually held sway. I found it heartening to hear that when George Wallace was shot, he radically changed his perspective & asked for forgiveness for being a racist. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if 45 had that kind of epiphany from his near-death moment?

            DKG emphasized that “words matter at a time like this” so your speech tonight was the tonic that many of us needed. We needed to hear that “nothing is more important for us now than standing together.”

            It’s too bad that the kid who did this probably felt so lonely! We can assume he was like the other young men who arm themselves & go on a shooting spree as a last act of desperation to get attention. His classmates say he had few friends. He wasn’t disruptive or nasty. He just kept to himself. My guess is he never found his place at school & became a lost soul.

            Kids like him drive me to teach my undergrads about the importance of cultivating relationships among students in classrooms. We learn best when we are among friends, but more importantly we learn that we are part of something bigger than ourselves. Teachers can make a big difference by engineering the social dynamics of their classrooms.

            Please share your message that “violence has never been the answer” with Bibi & the junta. George Fox noted that you can’t kill the devil with a gun or a sword. “There is no way to peace, peace is the way.”

            BYBS,