Friends, it’s been a while. I felt compelled to write to you today after seeing various reactions to the jury verdict that was reached this week. I put these words down out of love, out of hope for our future, and what we are capable of accomplishing together.

First and foremost, we are human beings. It is in our nature to make mistakes, and it is also in our nature to learn from them. What we have been witnessing over the past year are groups of our fellow brothers and sisters struggling and reaching out for help. Whether you or I have been actively involved in incidents that have led us to this point is somewhat irrelevant – I merely hope that we all recognize the opportunity at hand to play our part in making our communities safer for everyone who resides in them.

This week, a group of our peers met together and determined that what one man did to another was wrong and that justice needed to be rendered in the form of punishment. I know everyone wants to play conspiracy theorist and find ways to clickbait others into believing some particular aspect of this incident to draw more lines in the sand, but enough is enough. We owe it to ourselves as human beings first and foremost to look out for each other – and in this circumstance, it requires a look in the mirror to examine how we can conduct ourselves so that we don’t give the news outlets any more reasons to throw these types of once-in-a-lifetime circumstances in our faces once more.

Love your neighbor. Jesus made it so simple, yet we find it to be the most troubling part of our time on Earth. It DOES NOT MATTER if this neighbor has a drug problem, has a mental health problem, bullied you in the past, whatever it might have been – love. your. neighbor. We have been conditioned to believe that this is a “gray” area based off what others tell us, but it doesn’t change the fact that we need to put preconceived notions aside when it comes to treating our fellow humans with dignity and respect.

This is not a conservative, moderate, or liberal position. As a simple man, I implor you to walk the walk when it comes to taking up a cross and remembering that only those without sin cast the first stone. Let us encourage each other to look straight through to the heart of someone we interact with – no matter skin tone, how they vote, and what pains may have been caused in the past.