Shootings: Three lessons Americans should absorb

Re: “What we’ll tell our daughter about this week’s tragedies in America,” (TNT, 7/10).

Columnist Matt Driscoll is right to wonder how the recent violence may be perceived by his kids. Of equal importance is how each American understands the problems of policing and protest in our communities. Hopefully, most will:

1. Realize each person is capable of doing good or evil, irrespective of race, gender, age, religious affiliation, ethnicity or profession.

2. Know that any domestic crisis is ripe for demagogues who will seek to promote their own power, with no regard for the greater good. Particularly dangerous are those who operate from some grand ideological vantage point who will not hesitate to justify any means to achieve their ends.

3. All forms of protest are legitimate if they operate within the parameters of constitutional principles and processes. Tolerance cannot be extended to those who would storm stages to prevent others from speaking, or those who would destroy property or attack and abuse the police during protests.

Our system for pursuing justice is not perfect. But no system established by flawed people for flawed people can be perfect. All Americans must come to know this, and act within this reality to address our common problems.

This story was originally published July 12, 2016 at 12:04 PM with the headline "Shootings: Three lessons Americans should absorb."