How well does it work when someone points out something you have done wrong, only to have you turn around and point out a way in which they have failed? Does it help resolve the dispute, or does it inflame the grievances that stand between you? If it helps to answer this question, think back to a heated discussion with a friend or family member.

Now look to recent online and TV debate about speech incited violence. “You don’t like pipe bombs by a Trump supporter? What about that Bernie guy that shot up a baseball field full of Republicans?”

That debate is going as well as the fight that started with the wife complaining to the husband he hasn’t taken out the trash for two weeks, and he shoots back she hasn’t done laundry for three.

We need to step back and try something different. A wise man once said “… first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

Shall we try the way of humility and reconciliation rather than the whirlwind of whataboutism and moral equivalency?

It might be worth a try.