There has been quite a movement across this nation to focus on demeaning and horrible things happening to women in this country. To be sure, the stories on the national stage deserve the attention they are receiving.

Let’s put the brakes on the current outcry, however. Let’s study the issues and do more than sensationalize and talk.

Khizr Khan, an American of Pakistani descent, is the Gold Star parent of a fallen hero. Then he criticized then-presidential candidate Donald J. Trump.

Myeshia Johnson is the Gold Star widow of fallen hero Sgt. La David Johnson.

Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., was in the car with Myeshia Johnson on the way to Dover Air Force Base to accept her husband’s remains when 45 placed a call of condolence. Wilson had been a mentor and family friend to the Johnsons for years and was in the car as a friend, not as a politician.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., another bona fide hero, spent five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam under the most horrible circumstances.

Judge Gonzalo Curiel is an American-born federal judge of Hispanic heritage who was overseeing the fraud case against Trump University in San Diego.

And Donald J. Trump, the current president of the United States and leader of the Free World.

Let’s start with President Trump, who in normal times we’d have expected to be as a role model for our children — a man who won the Electoral College but lost the popular vote in a country that’s currently deeply divided.

For the first time in history, the president of the United States has openly criticized a Gold Star family, that of Khizr Khan, an American of Pakistani descent.

He attacked Sen. McCain, an American hero, saying he didn’t like men who were captured.

He attacked Myeshia Johnson, the Gold Star mother of three with a child on the way who’d taken offense at his tone-deaf attempt to offer condolence. There obviously was miscommunication; but rather than apologize or stay quiet, the president attacked her. Of course he did; she is a woman of color.

He attacked Rep. Wilson, the longtime family friend, who heard Myeshia Johnson’s whole conversation with the president. She was supported in her interpretation of the conversation by the widow herself. Rather than take the high road and apologize, admitting there may have been miscommunication, he went tweet-crazy. But then, she too is a woman of color.

Judge Gonzalo Curiel, one of many federal judges the president has personally attacked, was said to be “incapable of being fair” because he was Hispanic and ruled against the case involving building 45’s wall between the U.S. and Mexico. Judge Curiel is an American of Mexican heritage, so of course that made him less than an honorable man.

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Harvey Weinstein is a Hollywood producer who’s now famous worldwide because of sexual misconduct toward women spanning decades — including allegations of rape, harassment and assault. He may now hold the record for more allegations of sexual misconduct than any man in history. I’ve lost count of the number of women who have come forward with their stories. They have explained legitimate reasons why they did not say anything publicly until now. Of course, he is a multimillionaire, so he feels he can use women as he wants.

We have certain churches in this country that even now do not allow women to have leadership positions. Yet they scream like hell that they protect and value women.

We have legislative leaders who howl like a pack of wolves that women and children must be honored and valued, yet do little to address the issues for fear of offending certain individuals or groups.

Men who take advantage of women and children are the scum of the earth.

What this country needs right now are men who will raise their sons to respect everyone, regardless of gender or color.

We need women to urge their daughters to respect themselves and not allow the male of the species to treat them like objects.

We need the general population to stop talking and start acting — by word and deed — to let everyone know that each life is valued, and that no one at all has the right to devalue them.

We need religious leaders from all faiths to get out of politics and go back to preaching the values promoted by our Creator. We need them to remind everyone that the color of one’s skin is just that: color. It is not something sinister, not something that diminishes them.

We need politicians to remember we didn’t send them to the Capitol to represent their party. Their job is to represent the people who elected them.

Most importantly, we need people to take off their blinders, get the facts on candidates and issues and only then use the power of their votes.

With the exception of the man who is our president, there’s not much truly new in what has been happening to this country. What is new is that the news media and social networks are shining the light on what is really going on — as opposed to what we might like to think is happening.

Values count. Family values count the most. If we don’t pull our collective heads out of the sand and care about each other, then all may be lost. In my opinion, this last election has brought a lot more than Trump into focus. It has spotlighted a lot of shortcomings. Our goal now is not to whine and moan but to do what is necessary to bring us back to the greatness our military, alive and deceased, fought for.

If not now when? Amen.