Editor, Gazette-Journal:

It matters not what direction the noise comes from, but if the "noise" offers nothing but whining or insults, it isn’t worth listening to, reading or watching. The murder and wounding that just occurred in Arizona is wrong, no matter who the victims are, and the only person responsible for it is the person who committed these acts.

I repeat that word—only—because any additional blame is dead wrong and being used to muddy the water. Politics is part of each of us. If we have opinions, we will be political. But in the United States, we are expected to behave better than this.

From the beginning, too many men and women have given all to provide each of us with the freedoms outlined in our Constitution, and it is shameful when our free press and other media use the crime of one person to smear any group or individual they dislike in an attempt to strip any of those freedoms from them. This is certain, that every hurt we inflict on others will be returned to us. But every honest and good act we do will also return.

Dawn Dale

Hayes, Va