How do we, as a nation, respond to the ambush-style attacks on police officers in Dallas Thursday night?

With fear? With anger? With sorrow? With revenge? All of the above?

Many will characterize the attacks as “unimaginable” or “unthinkable” and they are partly correct. No one — not even the men and women who wear the badge — imagine that they will be gunned down in the street by snipers. But in America today what happened in Dallas is hardly surprising.

Our nation is divided in so many ways, and the two police shootings earlier this week only furthered those divides. The murder of five police officers could fracture this nation beyond repair.

But only if we allow hate to win. Regardless of your race or political views, we can all agree that innocent people shouldn’t be shot and killed, whether they are citizens sitting in their vehicles or police officers protecting peaceful protesters.

Violence may beget violence, but the same is true for love. It sounds too simple and in some ways it is, but our nation desperately needs more of one and less of the other.

How we respond to this week’s events may shape our nation for generations to come. Will we allow hate to win? Will we allow violence to further separate an already broken country? Or will we simply love our neighbor?

“For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Once we realize that everyone around us — regardless of race or class or sex — is our neighbor then this nation will be healed.

So how can we respond to this week’s events? Loving our neighbors is a good start. Prayer wouldn’t hurt either.