Americans are better than other people. And when I say better here: I'm not talking about ultimate superiority, as obviously all men are created equal—which should be a truth so obvious I hesitate to say it each time, out of fear of disrespecting the fact that it is, clearly, self-evident. When I say better in this context, I am talking about a superior moral character.

There are people across the world, and, unfortunately, in our country, who do bad things. I'll leave the necessary condemnation for the truly awful for another time. But often people do bad things, yet are good at their core, and have sincere and earnest intentions. What makes us Americans better than others is that we forgive these people. We must offer kindness and forgiveness to our enemies. Because if we only love those who love us, how can we claim to be any better? Don't our enemies do the same thing? So just as Jesus instructs us, forgive those who hate us; and offer kindness to he who smites you.

This is not to countenance bad behavior, nor especially the worst behavior. Bad acts should be punished, and when they are especially severe enough, they ought to be condemned totally. Yet two things here: first, no matter what, we must always condemn the sin, and not the sinner. All people are made in the image of an omnipotent and supremely awesome Origin; and are all totally perfect and righteous at their core. Whatever human deviation we see now in people must be forgiven: we must love the person, yet condemn whatever it is they may do that is really awful and nasty. And two: there is still a major and qualitative difference between people who do choose to commit terrible and wanton evil, versus those who do bad acts out of mere ignorance, yet largely intend to do good.

He who is so ignorant that his good intentions spur on negligence, gross recklessness, and so forth, do deserve a different type of treatment—especially when accompanied with no remorse, no shred of desire for redemption, or a desire for eternal betterment.

Yet he who is good, and who has done much good, yet fails in the execution out of various forms of earthly ignorance or cluelessness: we must forgive this totally. We cannot claim to be better than anyone else when we do the same things our enemies do.

Do not be quick to judge or to condemn. Most of us have at one point done a great thing, yet exercised ignorance or short-sightedness in carrying it out, and this led to bad acts occurring.

Bravery

At the same time, let us not fear condemning and hating the sin itself. Love the sinner, hate the sin. Bravery consists foremostly not in the sword or the gun, but in a love of righteousness and the peace which it obtains.