Ryan, Krystal, Emily, and Saggar all reflect the public face of what American discourse should be.

I spent 22 years protecting the rights for people to vehemently and enthusiastically disagree with my beliefs. Not once did I ever think about picking up the weapon I've been highly trained to take life with, and silence them.

I rarely align with Krystal and her vocalized opinion annoys me much more than Ryan's, but I grow and expand my personal opinion by listening to them. I'm swayed and educated by listening to their points, regardless of how much I may think they are wrong.

I sit here feeling the mix of heartbreak and confusion about the nation I destroyed my youthful morality defending through multiple wars for.

The murder of a human, a father, a husband, was not the result of reason, truth, or righteous cause. It was the act of a madman, someone consumed by the distorted belief that violence on behalf of a “philosophical side” could somehow give meaning or justice. It was not rational... it was insanity.

Yet, in some ways, it was an insanity stoked and inflamed by the larger madness that has taken hold of our nation; the tribal factions we’ve allowed ourselves to splinter into. We are all Americans and the real enemies of America are watching us kill and weaken ourselves. Our elected leaders are going to use this to take away more liberty, to further divide us, to make us feel like our neighbors that have different opinions on specific ideals, are now generally the enemy.

This tragedy cannot be explained away by pointing fingers or tallying blame. However, many, the media, the current party of political authority, and those that support them will try. It wasn’t born out of policy differences, or honest disagreements over ideas. It was born out of the echo chambers that amplify hate, the endless cycles of finger pointing, belittling, and mistrust that turn neighbors into enemies. In that environment, the fragile mind of one soul less person snapped and the result is a loss that no words can truly heal.

If we step back, it becomes clear that we have to resist letting ourselves be pulled deeper into these factions. Every time we let anger define us, every time we treat others as less than, because they don’t see the world as we do, we pour fuel on a fire that is already out of control. This public murder is not just a reminder of how fragile life is, but of how fragile our unity as a people has become.

For me, this moment is one of conviction: to see each person as a human being first. To try to listen, even when it’s hard. To extend grace even when I don’t agree. To remember that humility and truth matter more than “winning” an argument or ending it with physical violence.

If we can’t begin to live like that, then all we’ll ever do is harden the walls between us, and tragedies like this will only multiply.

We may never truly understand why one person chose to act in such madness. But we can decide whether we allow that madness to spread. My prayer is that instead of letting this deepen the divide, we take it as a call to soften our hearts, to step back from the tribal noise, and to begin again seeing each other with the dignity, compassion, and humanity that every American deserves. Our nation is built on free speech, the discourse that all people are free to present their ideas and defend them with words and logic... Not with violence.