Jeri wrote: I don't think there's a solution that won't get people killed. I hope we can hang onto the compassion that makes being human worth it.

That sounds about right to me. But what makes more sense to me than anything is a very simple belief in Christ; maybe even the faith of a child in his loving parent. Is our life so valuable that we must kill to sustain/retain it? Most people seem to say yes; but I think about Matthew 10: 28. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Looking to the Bible for answers may seem very quaint and unsophistocated now but I trust these words from the past which depict the future.

American/world unity isn't the real issue either: consider Matthew 10:34. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

in conclusion:

42. And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.

(or just read the whole chapter)