I wanted to shoot the political sign I saw outside of Philadelphia the other day but ended up feeling sorry for all of us who react violently against the person we demonize on the other side of the aisle.

Yes, I pictured a .38 caliber gun in my hand as I shot the sign on a lawn in Plymouth Township, near my Conshohocken home. The sign was one of two brandished outside an upper middle class house at an intersection on Belvoir Road. The one sign announced the dwellers “Support” our local “Police.” You’ve seen them crop up in recent weeks in a direct response to African American slogans “Black Lives Matter.” I saw my first sign right after the Dallas shooting. I’ve never seen one near less modest-costing houses. I guess you got to be from a certain class to see the importance of such signs supporting our law enforcement agents.

I figured they’re all Republicans. I don’t know of any Democrats that would erect such signs. Yeah, the Dems support law and order but many from the inner cities often fear the cops. They’re on the lookout, particularly if they’re hanging on corners in North Philadelphia or “driving while black.”

 

Shooting never gets you anywhere in politics or in life outside of a war!

 

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I would never shoot at a police sign. I figured cops would get evidence and knock on my door after tracing my sinful actions. But shooting at a Trump sign?

That’s what the Second Amendment is all about, isn’t it?

No, it is not. And that’s when I thought of Hillary-haters probably wanting to do the same to yard signs with her name on ‘em. They sell pins that wish she was locked up. Trump himself has twice suggested persons with guns could take care of her. It’s ugly in “Trump land,” my friends. But I did not want to go there.

That’s why I felt love and compassion for those of us who react so violently. I’m a Vietnam War veteran with PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) with impulse control problems. No, I would never pull a gun on someone that irritated me. I wouldn’t shoot them either. But, I would feel a bit of hatred growing inside and if I fed it, I knew it could grow and control the “better part of my angels” as Abraham Lincoln once said.

And so I forgave myself and all others who support Trump. I wish no one harm and I hope the Trump followers would do the same particularly when the election ends and we get around to supporting whoever the new president will be.