I worry about our country if we have four more years of Trump.  

I worry even about another year-plus of Trump’s presidency combined with a full-on Trump campaign.

Hate crimes are on the rise, as are mass shootings, and these events are becoming more deadly.  Trump mines divisions in our country and demonizes people who look different than he does. His campaign describes our southern border as an “invasion,” meant to connote a hostile takeover of by a foreign enemy. 

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White Nationalists interpret Trump’s words as support for their cause and even as a call to action. In this environment, it is not only recent immigrants whose lives are endangered, but all people of color. And really, all Americans, because mass hate crimes are rarely confined to intended targets.    

Trump promotes a win-at-all-costs environment in which those who disagree with him are losers. People who support compassionate immigration reform are cast as calling for open borders. People who care about providing health care for vulnerable Americans are cast as crazy socialists. People who express their concern about the direction of our country are cast as “hating America.”   

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In Trump’s America, compassion, it seems, is a dirty word. Let’s bring compassion back. Compassion doesn’t mean open borders, but it does mean treating people humanely. It means understanding that putting people in cages and separating families, particularly little ones from parents, has life-long negative impacts. It means looking for ways to help people remain safely and thrive in their countries.  

Compassion doesn’t mean we all agree on everything, but it does mean that differences are expressed respectfully and not as personal attacks based on physical characteristics or as physical violence.  

Compassion doesn’t mean we all love one another, but it does mean we coexist peacefully in this country we all call home.  

Let’s call out hatred when we see it. Let’s insist on measures that promote compassion and punish hate. 

And let’s elect decent leaders who care more about what’s right for people than about the party line. 

Eden Steele

Carbondale