Didn’t your mother tell you …that it is not nice to bully others? …that the Bible says “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you? …that Santa Claus is coming to town, whether you believe it or not, so you’d better be good just in case?

If she didn’t tell you, I’ll bet your school teachers told you. And I’ll bet your Sunday School teachers surely told you.

Well, evidently some people weren’t paying attention.

There can be no other explanation for the behavior of today’s Republican (can I say that?) candidates.

When I read and hear what is being publicly said on the radio and found in newsprint, it makes me sick at heart. Where and when did we lose our way? I ask myself, “What would President Lincoln have said or done?” Please remember how he tried valiantly for years before the first shot was fired in the War Between the States to find a peaceful way forward toward unity. His central purpose was to protect this fragile and hard-won democracy. However, violence had its way at Ft. Sumter, South Carolina. Too late now for peace.

After the deaths of approximately 625,000 Americans, countless wounded, and the devastation of the South complete, two paths were considered. Lincoln sought to treat the South as a wounded brother to be welcomed home again and helped to heal. The “Radical Republicans” wanted to teach the South a lesson and punish them. President Lincoln was assassinated, and the scalawags savaged the South – which is still vividly remembered today. I know! I was just there and heard it told again and again. In the minds of many Southerners, the war rages on.

And what would President Franklin Roosevelt have said and done? The Depression brought the United States economically and politically to its knees. With 25 percent of the U.S. population out of work, President Roosevelt proposed the New Deal. He did not threaten those who were out of work with the poor house. He did not put them in jail for refusing to pay their rent. He found ways to put them to work which made him one of the most-loved presidents in my lifetime, and, incidentally, resulted in a thriving economy where wealth was more equally distributed.

What did the United States do after World War II? After the deaths of about 400,000 Americans and over 60-80 million worldwide, the United States proposed the Marshall Plan. We were welcoming a wounded brother back into the family fold.

What are the thought processes when humans consider the difference between good with depravity? Speaking only for myself, I see good as freely offering help and sustenance to others less fortunate than myself. Depravity wants to punish, threaten and hold hostage those who may not have had the opportunities I have enjoyed.

Listen now to Mother Sally. Withhold judgement. Look beyond the present to seek the strength that comes with welcoming home our wounded brothers and sisters in this hurting world.

Sally Breen lives in Windham.