Words are the parents of bombs

My wife and I recently watched a segment of the CNN series "The Nineties" and were reminded of just how violent a decade the 1990s was. The segment spotlighted the Waco, Texas, gunfight with the Branch Davidians cult; the Unabomber ,whose mailed bombs killed several and worried thousands; the Oklahoma City bombing; and the initial attempt by Al-Quaida to topple the Twin Towers. We breathed a sigh of relief that the 1990s were two decades behind us.

Days later we read the reports of pipe bombs that had been mailed to public officials in Washington, New York and other locations. It seemed like we were back in the worrisome days of the 1990s or the aftermath of 9/11.

What was most troubling about this week's spate of attempted bombings was that the target list seems to have been taken from President Trump's speeches and tweets. Bombs were sent to Hillary Clinton, former President Obama, former CIA director John Brennan, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, former Attorney General Eric Holder, and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and liberal activist/donor George Soros. The link between all these targets is that they are Democrats and have been criticized viciously by President Trump.

To his credit, Trump issued a carefully worded statement calling for national unity and conversation, not violence. But this same president has called some of these targets "crooked," "dumb," and other ambiguous but mean-spirited adjectives. He enjoys leading chants of "Lock her up" at his rallies, calls news reporters "enemies of the people" and praises a congressman who body slammed a reporter who had the temerity to ask him a simple question about a national issue.

Trump supporters deny that his venomous criticisms had anything to do with the pipe bombs. Some even claim that the mailed packages were a Democratic plot to cast blame on Trump. But words matter. A kind word turns away wrath. An angry, hateful word promotes violence. Regardless of whether the person or persons responsible for these attempted bombings took their cues from the president's words, those words have debased our society and ruined political debate.

Throughout history, words have mattered. Thomas Jefferson's words helped launch a new republic. Adolf Hitler's words led to World War II and 20 million deaths. John Kennedy's words challenged Americans to put men on the moon. Franklin Roosevelt's words helped reassure Americans despondent because of the Great Depression. Abraham Lincoln's words redefined the Union's war goals and defined the principles of American democracy.

Because words matter, they should be chosen carefully.