“Too often we excuse those who are willing to build their own lives on the shattered dreams of other human beings.” — Robert Kennedy

Kennedy spoke these words after the murder of Martin Luther King Jr.

And just like Saturday, even more so, a nation was united in pain and anger and hate. There was hatred written on the faces of many whose leader and hero had fallen at the hands of a single gunman.

At the time, Kennedy was a candidate for president. He could have made a good deal of the event. He could have made political points had he used rhetoric to stir the anger and passion in the people of a stunned nation.

Instead, Kennedy, who was not popular with many and still remains unpopular with a specific set of people, rose above simple political rhetoric and spoke from the heart. His words were filled with passion as he spoke against the senseless violence that cut through race and class; the famous and the unknown.

“The were human beings who other human beings loved and needed,” he said of all those who suffered at the hands of violence.

How badly we needed those words in the aftermath of Saturday’s attempted murder of a congresswoman and the wounding of 19 others; after the killings of a federal judge and a little girl whose birthday on Sept. 11, in the shadow of terrorist attacks had brought hope to her family and friends.

No, Kennedy was not a perfect man, but he understood decorum and was mindful of a peoples’ need to grieve. He did not fan the flames of hatred.

Even here in Selma, we have suffered as a community at the hands of violence. We must become cognizant of how we handle our differences and mindful that our actions, however simple and day-to-day affect those around us.

But most of all, all of us must choose proper language. We must be kind, truthful and precise without resorting to hyperbole to get our points across.

And we must remember these times during good times, so we do not lapse into the kind of speech and action that urges others — those weaker — to react in violent ways.

— Leesha Faulkner