After events of Saturday, I wanted to pass along insights I have been hearing from contacts. There are a lot of rumors out there, even two days after the attempted assassination took place. Therefore, I think it is important to discuss what we know, what we don’t, and how we can all come together to support our country irrespective of politics.
It is important to realize that while people have opinions about the former president, he is a former U.S. President who someone tried to assassinate. This is a big deal and I am greatly concerned by the partisanship I have seen in the press and online about this.
I try not to be political in these notes as I realize we all have our opinion viewpoints and come to issues in different ways. Understanding the facts and making the best decision based upon those facts is something I strove to achieve for almost 30 years with the government and have continue to do via these assessments.
But we must remember we are all Americans. The greatness of our country is we can come together, argue, vote, and then follow a succession of leaders without our system being compromised. I have lived in too many places where this isn’t possible. And violence against our leaders is not acceptable in any situation or circumstance.
I will get off my high horse here and pass along what I have learned. There will certainly be more details to come, but the core of the situation is that a young man from Pennsylvania took an AR-15 style weapon and attempted to assassinate a former president of the U.S. In the process he killed another hero – a former fire fighter who was protecting his family with his body – and injured two others. He also destroyed his family in the process. It is all sad and while we may never know the motivation, we are lucky that the former president was only slightly injured as a result.
I know we will likely get back to the partisan wrangling soon, but let’s not forget the seriousness of the responsibilities we all have being Americans.
I may have mentioned this previously, but I think a saying from a former boss is apropos. He used to tell us when we were working on sensitive geopolitical issues – Don’t ever forget – WE ARE THEY. In so many ways we are the luckiest people who have ever lived. And this also holds for the political system in which we were born or chose. As such, WE are responsible for maintaining and growing it. Not THEM or anyone else.
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-John Franchi