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I am praying for us tonight.

I have been asking God for some extra specific guidance and bringing him a few more specific requests this week for us, meaning the Campbell family. We are on a very interesting ride at the moment… but that’s not what I’m talking about.

I’m sure you have heard by now that a young man opened fire on a small political event in the state of Arizona. Representative Gabrielle Giffords was appearing at a local SafeWay grocery store and she, along with many others, was hit by one of the bullets. Reports earlier said she had been killed, but as of right now, she is still alive, and they actually do expect her to recover.

The question is … will we?

The political debates in our country are ridiculous. I’ve written about it here before, we’re not listening to each other. (See also, “The (True) Fundamental Transformation of America“.) We’re slinging the SAME accusations at each other. We can not both be right! But … in a way, we are.

The point is, the games have to stop. We are all people. We’re not Democrats, Republicans, Tea Party-ers, Libertarians, Communists, or Socialists. We’re people. Yes, we are all Americans, and it’s good to have something we can unite on … but I say that, in the end, should be that we are people.

We are neighbors.

But unfortunately, we’re not. “We” are right, and “they” are wrong. “They” are crazy. It doesn’t matter what the issue, or which side of it you are on… “we” are right, and “they” are dangerously wacko.

It’s only because we are labeling people, and treating them as that objectified concept rather than finding what we do have in common and starting from there. That is certainly much easier than really trying to understand someone who thinks differently than you, and then trying to build on what you do have in common.

But which is better? I think that’s an easy answer.

So tonight, accusations fly. On all sides, of course. I found this blog post from The Telegraph that seems to encapsulate the majority of the accusations (as well as the facts). Well-linked, too.

And that’s why I’m asking God to cool heads.

The only person at fault here is the one who pulled the trigger. It’s not the books he said were his favorites (Mein Kampf, The Communist Manifesto) nor is it any “commentators and blogs” that he read. It’s not the Tea Party, nor the Republicans, nor the Democrats. It is one man, alone. (At least, so far it seems he was acting alone.)

But those who get to say what is really happening (the political voices, and the press) seem to be saying that the “heated political environment” has led to this. (And the worst accusations leverage the fact that she had a “D” in front of her name to blame the opposing “R” party and their constituents. Yikes.)

I really don’t have much to say except that if we just keep doing this “us” vs. “them” thing, we’re in big trouble.

Maybe we already are.

For now, I’m going to be praying.