I’m not sure I know what to think anymore, or how to feel about my fellow man and woman.  Oh, sure, killing has been as big a part of our species as has been respect for life, and perhaps even more.  History is replete with reasons – - religious, political, economic, survival, sport and enjoyment.

The three most covered instances this week have been the murder of a doctor during church services, the murder of a man in uniform, and a security guard at a national facility.  Each of the shooters had an agenda – - anti-abortion, anti-American military, ethnic and racial hatred.

Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of words have been written over these ten days about those murders, and many of those words suggest some linkage between the hate-spewing from right wing extremists, talk radio, conservative television show hosts and newspaper columnists.  Maybe so, maybe not.

It has reminded me of something from over thirty years ago when I held public office, though.  As one chief elected official in my town, I was a hearing officer for a public complaint of police brutality.  A young man alleged he was harassed by several police offices in a public place (no joke, a donut shop) to the point of physical provocation.

He was injured in the fracas that resulted, and received medical treatment for his injuries, with photographs  to show the extent of them.  Three police officers, including a detective and a shift sergeant, were charged with responsibility and a disciplinary hearing was held.

The testimony at hearing supported the claim that the police officers had incited violence by verbal provocation, and as a result, civilian injuries were sustained.  My responsibility at the hearing was to determine the degree of that responsibility, and if sufficiently determined, to mete out punishment.

I knew all of the parties – - a fairly small town, and I’d grown up with two of the officers involved.  The complainant’s father was an acquaintance, and I knew all the lawyers.  It was a particularly difficult decision to make.  I held the police responsible, upheld the complainant’s claims, and suspended the officers for short terms each.  My rationale is what has applicability to the way I feel about these most recent events.

I came to conclude that the police were liable not because their words incited the violence, but rather because we had a right to expect more from them.  They were the keepers of the peace, their job to serve and protect.  It was incumbent on them to de-escalate the situation, to diffuse volatility, to do everything possible to avoid confrontation.  It was not so much what they said as it was they said it. There should have been a better way.

In other words, they were responsible for the damages because they were irresponsible.  They failed to act reasonably, to keep the discourse at a high level, to maintain civility and peace.

That is the failure of the right wing conservative voices who spew the hatred we hear each day.  They fail to act and speak reasonably, to keep the discussion at a high level, to maintain civility in that discourse.  There should be a better way than the one they espouse.

Instead, they call government officials racists and bigots and wish failure upon them; they call those whose work they disagree with  “killers” and tell widows the victims “had it coming”; they shout that America would be better off if everyone was Christian, and that “the Jews” merely needed to be “perfected” through conversion.  These are the Limbaughs,  the Coultons, the Wrights and the O’Reillys of the world, and they use their “pulpits” to proselytize that kind of poison.

These are people who purport to want a better America and to lead us into a better place in our lives and in the world.  Yet, the best they can contribute is hatred and anger themselves, failing to ratchet down the rhetoric , to offer a civil and responsible discourse about how to find that better place.

So, I suppose that’s how I feel about it.  Not so much that their words inspired the killings, but rather that they did not find better words to make their points,  words that encourage a more reasoned and reasonable discussion.

If those police officers had found better ways to serve and protect, the young fellow would not have been injured. If those mouths today could find better and less hate-filled words to make their points, promote a more reasoned national debate, perhaps future injuries could be avoided.

I don’t suppose those words would be as profitably spoken or do much to maintain their followings, though.  Stephen Tyrone Johns, the guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum who was killed yesterday while protecting the lives of others, was a man of more character than any of those mouths.

Shame on them.