Dear Readers,

Last week was Holy Week, one of the significant periods in the Christian calendar, but the events of last week were, well, not so holy.

If you spent any time in front of your TV set or reading newspapers, or, perish the thought, cruised the Internet, you were slammed with a series of monster atrocities.

Hundreds massacred at a Kenyan college, some for their religious beliefs, while others were just murdered for the heck of it. In Yemen, Houthi rebels flushed out the ordinary government, triggering air strikes and other action from the Saudis.

In Iraq and Syria, there was another spate of beheadings and hangings by ISIS and other groups. Much of the conflict is based on religion.

Here at home, we saw massive fires and floods in Kentucky, while on the north side of the Ohio River, Indiana was in the middle of another squabble over which version of the Christian religion you favor.

In California, they are seeing a drought that could have a major impact on the nation's food supply.

President Barack Obama's team is working on a deal with Iran designed to limit its access to nuclear weapons. It immediately became a flash point for angry rhetoric and predictions of doom and gloom.

Here in Maine, we have the legislature, both Republicans and Democrats, seemingly at odds (isn't that a nice way to put it?) with Gov. Paul LePage. Last week, he reminded the legislators that his veto pen was still sharp and he would use it as a bargaining chip to ramrod through his pet projects.

At the end of the week, at Thornton Academy in Saco, we saw a former legislator/mayor, who is opposed to the governor’s programs, stride up to the stage where LePage was seated. She was grabbed by the security team. She either pitched or threw a jar of Vaseline towards him. So much for agree to disagree.

Then there was the usual series of stories featuring crime, corruption and municipal squabbles, including one in Edgecomb where they are trying to solve the problem of providing fire protection on a small-town budget.

In the coming months and years, this problem will be played out in many of our towns as older volunteer firefighters retire and fewer younger folks have the time or inclination to take their places.

Whew. Was that enough excitement for one week, especially one that is supposed to be holy?

Now for the good news. In Boothbay Harbor, a church has made peace with its neighbor, avoiding a nasty public battle that would have embarrassed us all.

Maybe it is time to pause, take a moment, and reflect on an event in the not so distant past.

While last Saturday was the 47th anniversary of the assassination of The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., it was also the anniversary of one of the great off-the-cuff speeches of our generation.

Standing on the back of a flatbed truck parked in the middle of a downtown neighborhood in Indianapolis, Robert F. Kennedy, a candidate for president, told the crowd of mostly African Americans that King had been murdered by a white man.

Then he reminded the crowd that King dedicated his life to love and to justice. To those who harbored thoughts of revenge for the slaying, Kennedy said he understood their feelings, as a member of his own family was killed by a white man.

Then he told the crowd we must make an effort to understand, to get beyond these rather difficult times.

“What we need in the United States is not division. What we need in the United States is not hatred. What we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but love and wisdom and compassion toward one another.

“Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago; to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world,” Kennedy said.

Just two months later, on June 5, 1968, Kennedy was gunned down after winning the California primary election.

Easter is a time of hope. Let us all hope that sometime, someplace, we can, as the good book says, love our neighbors as ourselves.