For as much as our culture likes to hold itself as above political violence, people historically sure do a lot of it. The horrendous attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, as he campaigned in Butler, Pa. — nearly three hours to our west, just north of Pittsburgh — is another wretched entry to an equally wretched list.

Political violence extends beyond presidents and candidates, of course – consider the shooting of Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise and the assault of Paul Pelosi, both among recent examples. In 2022, a man paused and called the police on himself during an attempted assassination of conservative Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

A bit older, in 2011, then-Democratic U.S. Representative from Arizona, Gabby Giffords – wife of current U.S. Senator and former astronaut Mark Kelly – was shot in the head during an event where she was meeting directly with her constituents. She survived, but has suffered greatly with permanent brain damage and loss of vision, among other health issues.

These are just a handful of examples. We don’t need to address the Abraham Lincolns and John F. Kennedys in the room – or Garfield, Reagan, McKinley, FDR, Truman, Ford, Teddy Roosevelt or George W. Bush. We don’t need to address presidential candidates like George Wallace in 1972 or Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.

But we choose to.

The list goes on, and on, and on throughout history: an endless miasma swirled with an ugly mix of mental illness, political motivation, economic anxiety — and the concept that one’s ideas, values or property are better than another’s.

If you need a stronger example of where the cycle of violence leads, look no further than Ireland and its troubles.

We fear greatly where this road may lead.

Recently, North Carolina’s Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson — a gubernatorial candidate in that state, come this November — stated that “some people need killing” in a Sunday sermon.

This must stop.

Most Americans have similar ethics and similar goals. We seek similar futures for ourselves and our kids and their kids.

There will always be a fringe element that seeks division, not solidarity. Most of these people are broken, and have been failed by the society in which we all participate. The list of attempted — or successful — assassinations cited above reveals that this is not the product of any one time. It is not the product of any one ideology or demographic.

Our own capacity for violence is the constant shadow which lurks in the boundaries.

Thomas Jefferson famously said, “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”

We have not been vigilant. We have been distracted, divided and conquered — by fear and base emotions, at least, if nothing else as yet.

It is far past time to set aside our differences: to come together to enjoy the warmth of a summer sun; to enjoy the first tunes of a band playing music downtown; to enjoy the first brush of our favorite coffee against our lips; to enjoy the priceless company of family and friends; or perhaps even to enjoy waxing poetic in an op-ed or letter in your local newspaper.

It is far past time to be human together.

For, in the words of Captain Sheridan from the venerable Babylon 5, “As much as our humanity got us into this, our humanity’s the only thing that’s going to get us out again.”

We can only pray there will be no retaliation or further escalation following this latest atrocity, and that cooler heads prevail among both the left and the right — and everyone in between.