Dear John:

A fraction of a second's difference and the tragic event in Butler, PA would have turned out even more horrific.

Former President Trump turned his head to gesture toward a large, graphic board at the very instant a bullet grazed his ear. If he had not . . . Then where would we be? What would be happening across America right now?

Sadly, but predictably, in the immediate aftermath of the attempted assassination, some voices of hate sang out. One Democratic Congressional staff member posted that she thought the shooter should get more rifle instruction to become a better shot. (Appropriately, she was fired.) A Republican Congressman suggested President Biden should be impeached because he caused the shooting.

And it goes on and on.

Perhaps it is a good time to remember who we revere and why:

We revere Dr. Martin Luther King because he reminded us that "hate does not drive out hate; only love can do that."

We revere President Lincoln because even at the conclusion of the bloodiest war in American history, before or since, when families fought and killed one another, he urged us to move forward "with malice toward none with charity for all."

Those men, their words, and their sentiments have stood the test of time. They wisely understood that you cannot "cure" someone of their hate by yelling "You are wrong!" at them.

It is also a good time to be mindful of the fact that, when violence becomes a virulent contagion, a fraction of a second could be all that separates us from true catastrophe.

Things cannot go on this way. And we each bear a responsibility.

Denny Heck