If you see this I hope you will share it with friends and family, not with my name attached but simply as an opinion that I want to share with as many folks as I can.

As I am sure all who see this are, I am deeply saddened by the recent events in Las Vegas! There simply are no words to express how profoundly saddened this makes us all! My prayers go out to God for all those that lost their lives, all those that were physically injured, and all those that have been emotionally affected by this senseless and despicable act! To call this a tragedy is only an example of how difficult it is to adequately describe the horror of this entire episode!

As I watch the TV coverage of all this I am saddened by the politicization of it and at the same time heartened and proud of many of our fellow Americans that were in a bad place at a bad time but managed to respond in an heroic and exemplary manner.

All the first responders that ran to the danger, not away, to help whomever needed their help.

All the concert attendees who, when confronted with this horror, responded by taking care of their friends, family and even total strangers.

That is what makes us all rejoice in human nature at the exact time that we are confronted with its most unpleasant part! I hope that if I am ever in a situation that requires that same amount of courage and selflessness I can react in half as good a way as some of these folks did!

As part of the ongoing TV coverage of all this, there were several features devoted to how should you tell your children about this and what should you say to them about this tragedy. There have been many valuable and insightful answers to that provided by numerous “experts.”

What, in my view, they have all missed is that the best thing any of us can do for our children and grandchildren to help them deal with all this and at the same time learn from it, is to simply tell them NEVER TO HATE. Hate leads to this kind of event and to many other things that are against what we all want, to live together in peace and harmony. I am a Christian and as such have a strong belief that God will help us all to sort this and all things out in his way and in his time.

If you do not share that belief then I certainly don’t hate you, I just want you to realize that, believe or not, the teachings of Jesus are relevant and very much needed today! This is not by any means a sermon. I am not equipped to do that. It is merely an effort to put forth a philosophy that has eternal benefit to all of us.

Hate no one, love everyone, help those that need the help, take responsibility for what you do and say, listen to others, and follow your heart more than your brain!

In summation I just want to say that I believe that if we put love before hate and responsibility for our own actions above being victims, and try and see each other’s point of view even as we try and convince them that ours is better (or at least some of it is), then this world will improve and the incidents like what we are all watching in Vegas will, if not disappear, then diminish to a point that we don’t fear them as much as now.

I think the country singer that was performing when this tragedy unfolded said it rather well when he said, we are not black or white, Christian or Muslim, Republican or Democrat, etc. we are all just human!

Don’t allow your children to hate anyone or anything! Teach them to love one another, be responsible and live by the “Golden Rule.” It will pay huge dividends for us all!

Jim Cole, Tryon, N.C.