It was your basic argument. The 6-year-old presented her case before the judge – me.

“She hit me so I hit her back,” Ari said, trying to sound confident but knowing Gramma wasn’t going to buy it.

Her 4-year-old sister Alex fired back quickly.

“Na ah! She hit me first,” Alex said through tears.

I pretty much already figured out who hit who first, but explained to them they were both guilty and both would be sentenced for their crime to no less than 10 minutes in time-out without the possibility of parole.

Alex was a bit confused. Why was she punished for hitting her sister who hit her first? Life was unjust.

“Two wrongs don’t make a right,” I told her, banging down the pretend gavel on the pretend bench.

There are many scenarios where my ruling could be appealed, self-defense being one. However, most situations in life, even for us big kids, can include all types of mitigating factors or excuses for our actions, but when it comes down to it, keeping things simple is often the best route.

During the last eight years, I’ve unfortunately heard and read many, many horrible comments about Pres. Barack Obama. I don’t mean those who criticized his politics or policies – that’s our right as Americans to do that. Just because someone is president, we don’t have to agree with everything they do.

It was the nasty, ugly comments about his race, his wife, or his children – comments that had nothing to do with his job as president but were only said to be hateful and vulgar.

Since the election, I’ve seen usually like-minded friends very upset on how the election turned out. I’ve also seen some of those people already post comments about President-Elect Donald Trump that had nothing to do with what they expect his policies to be, or his proposed committee selections, but about his hair, his wife and in some cases, his race, along with hateful remarks about what tragedy they hoped would happen to him before his inauguration or during his presidency. Several times, it followed with a comment about how “I had to hear horrible comments about Obama for eight years so now it’s my turn.”

See? Simple. Two wrongs don’t make a right.

I’m not a Trump fan. I didn’t vote for him. However, he is going to be our next president and during such time, I may complain about things he does or new laws he pushes, but I’d never wish illness or death on him nor call his wife a derogatory name just for being his wife. I didn’t like it happening during the last eight years, and I’m not going to be a hypocrite.

I hope most of my Democratic friends will follow suit. Be better. Be above the hate. Show respect, but still stand up to what you believe is right, however; do so in a productive way.

Alyssa Schnugg is Senior Writer at the Oxford Eagle. Email her at alyssa.schnugg@oxfordeagle.com