Matt Henry, a native Buckeye, is a Roman Catholic musician, a retired ABC/UMC pastor, and a volunteer ombudsman for the state of Oregon. No one should be cold, hungry, lonely or unprotected. (Yasser Marte/East Oregonian, File)

I begin with what is arguably the stock set-up question posed from one human to another: “I have good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?” And the stock reply to the question seems to be, “Give me the bad news first.” OK; if that’s what you want, that’s what you’ll get.

I wrestled for some time as to whether I should share this experience publicly. On the one hand, I hate to dignify such a villain with their sickness getting aired beyond a few individuals who discovered it. On the other, I figured I owed it to you, citizens of Pendleton, to be aware and conscious of forces lurking somewhere within our sleepy community — not in the urban west of the state but out here in the “safe and sane” section of the rural Oregon northeast where the air is clear, the waters flow, the mountains stand, the women are strong and the men are all good-looking.

A friend shared with me a copy of an unsigned typewritten page that had been duplicated and left downtown for people to find and read. A female friend of my friend stumbled across the pile of bile early one recent morning. Warning: what you are about to read is sick, unhinged, evil, disturbing, hateful, ignorant and is the reason why I pondered whether it should be shared. After getting encouragement from a few friends who are wise and reflective in such matters, I decided to take the chance. Note: punctuation is that of the document’s author.

It reads: “Bible says to kill gays! Leviticus 20:13 Bible says to burn prostitutes! Leviticus 21:9 Now go spot all the fake gay preachers lying to you (like the pedos and gay bishops lecturing Trump)! World is showing us why these rules exist! These liberal homos are coming for your kids! Liberal women already kill babies so they can be sluts which is worse than prostitutes! Bible tells us what to do! Don’t believe it? Go read the Bible for yourself!”

At least more than the book of Leviticus, is my advice. This woman (bless her) did the appropriate thing — she collected them all and turned them over to the police and the city mayor (hopefully they get forwarded to the FBI). Such misogynist, right-wing, Fox-spewed, evil hatred of humanity. Right here in Mayberry RFD. And so dangerous in this time of murdered individuals who represent “the other side.” But we’re not the other side; we’re you who just perceive reality differently and choose to live and roll with the diversity of expression despite our despising it as well as you at times.

Now, the good news, for goodness, kindness, compassion, love and light will always have the final say. I have a good friend who is very kind, gentle, smart, talented, fun and funny, loving and warm. I love being in his company because he’s the quintessential “good guy.” And he’s also MAGA. We’ve never shared political views until recently when he bemoaned the crowd unrest down in Los Angeles. He started to go down that road but rather than get into it, I deflected the conversation to something we both love: red wine. He relaxed as did I and we proceeded to have our usual good time together. As I was leaving his small business establishment, he followed me out and genuinely expressed his concern that he might have offended me — clearly a liberal — by his observation. I told him I put that stuff aside, that it didn’t matter because I know his heart, his genuine kindness (he’s a military doctor-soldier who’s saved a lot of lives), that I respected our differences without judgment because he’s so clearly shown his love for others, including me. His spirit is a warm stove for me when I feel cold. And that’s the good news we must hold onto desperately in the current darkness of insidiously manipulated evil and violence. MAGA and Libtards: We’re all Americans, God bless that. And we all have a right to be.