“Mama, what does ‘indicted’ mean?” my daughter asked one night as I prepared dinner. Words like “indicted,” “presumed innocent until proven guilty” and “grand jury” required a lengthy explanation. Yet with the historic indictment of President Trump, these are words my daughter must know to understand the world around her.

It is a world where Capitol police were attacked by fellow Americans who thought the 2020 presidential election had been stolen. In this world, former Vice President Mike Pence and other lawmakers fled for their lives ahead of a maddening crowd Jan. 6, 2021.

These events contrast with the U.S. Constitution, which protects all Americans regardless of their ethnicity, religion or beliefs, as long as their words or actions do not cause harm to anyone else.

So, as I struggle to explain to my child why a former president is sitting at a defendant’s table in a New York City courtroom, I say a silent prayer that somehow, our nation will be less divided in the years to come.

For that to happen, we should stop judging our neighbors for their political opinions and see them as Christ does — an imperfect member of the human race.