Editor:

Finally, the election has been decided (pending lawsuits) and we can take a breath, relax a little and let the healing and forgiveness begin ("A Deadly Finale," Nov. 26). I've been contemplating whom to look to as a role model for forgiveness. Jess, I think, would be too obvious. Could it be Trump voters? They've been extraordinarily forgiving ... of his greed, misogyny, infidelity, xenophobia, racism, lying, lack of empathy, incompetence, nepotism, disparagement of the disabled, gold star families, war heroes, health professionals and scientists. They've forgiven his disregard for the rule of law, impending the working of government agencies, interfering with our election, avoiding paying taxes, appointing corrupt and incompetent functionaries and cabinet members and separating children (!) from their families at the southern border. Forgive me, I'm sure I may have left a few items out. Ah, of course his devastating mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic; literally, a matter of life and death. And mustn't forget his birtherism and hypocrisy. At the risk of sounding facetious, that's a boatload of forgiveness there. Pretty sure I'm not up to to matching that. Perhaps I should go back to the old standard: What would Jesus do?

Now, of course, I can already hear Trump supporters and my Republican friends saying who do I think I am to criticize. Well, I'm just an American citizen who is, after four years of this administration with its authoritarian tendencies, aware of how fragile our democracy has become. I can see now how democracy slipped so easily in 1930s Germany and even today in Poland, Hungary and Turkey. On a more personal level, my father, grandfather, great uncle and great grandfather (a Union soldier who was wounded at the Battle of Corinth yet carried on through the rest of the war) were involved respectively in WWII, WWI (and recalled for the Mexican Incursion), WWI and the Civil War. They answered the call to preserve our Union and protect our Constitution. I do not want to see their sacrifices and legacies diminished or wasted, especially by this damaged man, Donald Trump, who has called veterans "losers" and "suckers." It is long past time for him to go.

Raymond Lacy, Arcata