Over generalization and poor attempts at humor can lead to misunderstandings and in some ways harden our collective heart.

Years ago, as America’s first Gulf War was under way, I recall attempts at humor that simply did not strike me as funny.

“Nuke ’em and let God sort it out,” people said at the time about Iraq.

“Let’s turn the desert into a sheet of glass,” also a reference suggesting America should use nuclear bombs against our Middle Eastern foes.

People who considered themselves Christians uttered both of those phrases. They went to church every Sunday and most Wednesdays, they tithed and were mostly good folks, good folks with some misguided beliefs.

The God they said they worshipped tells us through the New Testament that we are to love him and love one another. The second part of that did not have an asterisk or a footnote.

It wasn’t, “Love people who look like you.”

He didn’t say, “Love people who act nicely.”

He said love people. Period.

That is perhaps one of the most difficult of God’s commandments to follow.

Liking, let alone loving, people that wrong us is incredibly difficult.

It’s the same with people who break laws. People who will lie, cheat and steal from you don’t deserve our love, correct?

That seems correct by our worldly standards, but that’s not what God said.

Last week a number of people in our community became irate over a local free shopper publication owner’s suggestion that Natchez should have a “Gangbanger’s Rodeo” in which participants would shoot one another. The last living person standing would win a prize.

The author later said it was obviously meant to be a tongue-in-cheek piece, but in our overly judgmental and reactionary world, that is unacceptable to many.

Clearly the piece, even though written in jest, was insensitive to the people who have been killed by violence on our community. Our area has had seen three people murdered in the first 10 days of the year.

Reaction to the man’s opinion, however, was equally as offensive in the other direction.

People called for someone to shoot the author. Another suggested he be hung.

What’s happened to our community — and America — that we cannot accept people with different opinions than our own?

While I didn’t find his words humorous, I recognize his right to feel however he would like and his ability to speak his mind.

He’s a human. He deserves to be loved.

The people who were shot in our community over the last week are people, too. They need love as well, along with their families.

And — here’s where it gets tough — the shooters deserve our love as well. I cannot fathom how someone can be so disrespectful of human life as to simply shoot someone in cold blood, but that doesn’t mean they are not still one of God’s children.

In the end, perhaps the ridiculous suggestion of a gangbanger rodeo will lead to some real discussion among members of our community.

The recent violence in our community should be of great concern to all of us. If you live in the Natchez area, own a business here or otherwise care anything about the area, you have a stake in our area’s future.

Because of that, rather than making fun of the situation or using it to further divisions between the shooters and the law-abiding people who struggle to understand how such violence can exist, we must realize we are all people, God’s children, and work together to make our community better.

Name-calling, threats and suggestions that any life — whether a suspected shooter or someone who writes something in which we don’t agree — isn’t precious must not continue.

If it does, our community will not improve, but will continue to spiral into violence. If we can set aside our differences and our own agendas long enough to follow God’s directive that we need to love one another, maybe, just maybe, we can come together long enough to solve the underlying problems leading to the violence.
Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.