When Violence Becomes Normal: Where Do We Go From Here?

 

“We don’t have to mourn the same people, but we must all resist celebrating their brutal deaths.”

 

In light of the events of the past few days, I feel compelled to speak. I’ve grown tired of politics, it no longer feels like conversation but combat. What once was debate and dialogue has dissolved into rage and extremism.

This week alone has shaken us to the core:

• An innocent woman slaughtered on a train because a monster didn’t like the color of her skin.
• A man assassinated in public in front of his wife and children because he dared to speak his mind.
• Children gunned down at school in cold blood..and just a week earlier, other children murdered while they prayed.

We should all be asking: how did we get here?

At what point did disagreement become grounds for death?
How did we normalize celebrating when someone is slaughtered simply because they weren’t “on our side”?
Why do we dehumanize one another so deeply that murder feels like justice?

You cannot be against guns yet cheer when one is used against someone you dislike. You cannot demand free speech for yourself but deny it to those you oppose. These contradictions set a precedent that will one day destroy us.

We are at a tipping point. And the only way back is forward..together, better, more human.

Here are five ways we can start improving, right now:

1. Relearn Empathy

Before rushing to comment, cheer, or dismiss, pause. Imagine if it was your child, your spouse, your friend. That shift in perspective alone can change how we speak and act.

2. Condemn Violence, Always

Not just when it happens to “our side.” Violence is not a win. It’s a loss for humanity, no matter who the victim is. A brutal assassination, a child murdered at school, a woman killed for her skin color—none of these are political wins. They are human losses.

3. Defend Free Speech for Everyone

Free speech means nothing if it only applies to voices we like. Protecting speech we disagree with protects our own in the long run.

4. See Humans, Not Enemies

Behind every opinion is a person with a story, a family, a life. Once we strip away someone’s humanity, it becomes dangerously easy to excuse cruelty against them. When we reduce people to enemies, labels, or caricatures, it becomes easier to justify cruelty against them. We need to see opponents not as targets to destroy, but as fellow humans with lives, families, and dignity.

5. Return to Dialogue, Not Destruction

Disagreement is part of a free society. Violence, mockery, and celebration of death are not. But we must disagree without resulting to violence or celebrating harm.We must bring back the courage to converse, even when it’s messy, even when it’s hard.

---

We are walking a razor’s edge as a nation. If we don’t reclaim empathy or sympathy, if we don’t resist this spiral into violence, we risk losing everything that makes us us.  If we lose the ability to see humanity in one another, if we normalize violence as the cost of disagreement, we will lose everything that makes us who we are.

You don’t have to grieve every victim, we don't have to mourn the same people. But you must never celebrate their murder, we must all resist celebrating their brutal deaths. Because once we cross that line, we may never come back. That single choice..to honor life, even when we disagree, may be what saves us.

Be good. Do good. Be blessed.