It's been two weeks since the heartbreaking massacre at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue, and days since the Thousand Oaks massacre. Unlike equally horrific atrocities, this time I just can't seem to grieve and move on. Do I value one group of victims over others? Are Jewish elders a greater loss than young people at a bar? Of course not. So where lies the discord? Every society since the beginning of time has suffered irreconcilable loss, but in my grieving mind, the distinction seems to fall into three categories: accident, mental cognizance and intent.
As a society, accidents happen. So we work to foresee, forewarn and strengthen our defense mechanisms. We also have neighbors who lack mental capacity to understand the consequences of thought and action. And sadly, the majority of incidents triggered by mental disability have years of red-flag moments which, through foresight and intervention, could radically reduce pain and suffering for all. Like minimizing accidents, we're working on mental health intervention, but lack of unity and easy access to life-threatening weapons indicate we have a long way to go. But a society with unified values can manage predictable inevitability with mutual respect, grace and powerful results.
Just as the Judeo-Christian admonition to love your neighbor as yourself is a reasoned, intentional choice, so is hate. Both can be fueled by action, both can be overpowered, and both start at the top, with women and men in positions of power and influence. Like the values that form through years of parental guidance, and the influence that transcends a teacher's classroom, leadership shapes the character of a nation in one direction, or another. Organized hate based on race, sex and religion has reared its ugly head throughout our history, but we've always overcome through the power of moral leadership and unified expression.
Recent expressions of hate-fueled political discourse from the highest pinnacles of power appear, in my mind, to be energizing expressions of disunity and degradation that we, as a nation, had tempered to manageable levels until the last few years. As the midterm elections become our new reality, my hope is that our neighbors will join in a unified voice and organized demand for politicians to humble themselves and seek a road to recovery from the direction we're headed.
Like Martin Luther King Jr., I had a dream that on the day of the Pittsburgh massacre, our president canceled his political rally and called Congress into special session for a unified, soul-searching period of introspection and commitment to reunification — a unified "we've had enough" declaration, national apology and commitment to something more than a bad hair day.
Love can overpower hate. It simply requires action.
Frank Prewitt is a former Alaska State Trooper, forensic social worker, Assistant Attorney General, Director of Alaska Psychiatric Institute and Commissioner of Corrections.