Hi Matt,
Thank you for taking the time to read and respond to my article. I'm so sorry you experienced such a terrible trauma, and I could see how an experience like that could make it difficult to believe in people's capacity for empathy and change. As I said in the article, I agree: some people are not capable. That said, some are, and if we are to prevent the US from heading towards something like what you experienced, we can and should try to reach across the divide and reach the other.