Saturday morning errands found me in Coeur d’Alene’s Target and Walmart stores, corporate giants both, where I couldn’t help but notice the prominent promotion of each company’s Pride merchandise in support of an excruciatingly long and increasingly bold “sexual revolution.”

Between stores, I found myself at a red light behind a large black pick-up truck whose windows and bumpers were covered with embarrassingly profane messages intended, I suppose, to convince me and others of the driver’s manliness.

Not long thereafter I found myself on U.S. 95 in the same flow of traffic with another truck boldly displaying an immense flag blowing in the wind with foot-high letters promoting sexual intercourse (or word to that effect) with President Biden. I have yet to develop an appropriate answer for when my 5-year-old granddaughter, who often travels with me, inevitably asks, “Papa, what does that sign say?”

There was one last window sticker noticed during my outing. It read, “In God We Trust.” And I thought to myself that while that may well be our national motto, it clearly is not our national practice.

Our debates have long focused on the myriad political agendas of Left and Right. Anger and contempt are common themes. We’d be much better served, don’t you think, if our conversations centered rather on what’s good, and what’s moral, and how we might best develop and display sound character. Christ, I believe, is the only reasonable answer to the questions that matter most.

BRUCE GILBERT

Coeur d’Alene