This morning, Canadian newspaper columnist Andrew Coyne wrote: “…all of us are morally responsible for the things we say, or do not say. Each of us is part of a moral order…it is our duty to sustain (it)…” And we agree. 

Every single day, every single one us shapes our world with the actions we take, and with the actions we don’t take. Hate has no place in our society and, in recent years, it has seemingly become commonplace in our discourse. We have no one to blame but ourselves, for we’ve let hatred flood our daily conversations far too easily.

And hate is an equal opportunity vice. Whether we like it or not, both sides of our polarized world have permitted vileness and venom to populate almost every debate on almost every issue, including the environment. 

When we lack empathy for those we disagree with and when we fail to engage one another in open and honest dialogue, we allow society to retreat into self-curated echo chambers. And it’s in these echo chambers that reasonableness is lost and hate is normalized. 

In light of the horrific terrorist attack on the Muslim community in Christchurch, New Zealand, we must remember that this tragedy will be repeated (as this tragedy sadly repeated other horrific acts in human history) if we fail to do our part to stop hatred, in all its forms and in every conversation it’s given life.