According to the Associated Press, Marcia Stirman is a 56-year-old interior decorator who once ran for magistrate judge in 2006 and is the chairwoman of an Otero County Republican women’s group.

When Stirman’s letter entitled “Why I’m a Republican” ran in her hometown newspaper Tuesday, she became a national symbol for bigotry, an achievement much larger than anything she seems to have accomplished up to this point in her life.

According to her letter, among other reasons, Stirman is a Republican because “God sometimes gives us what we deserve,” “Muslims are our enemies,” and the Democratic presidential candidate in this year’s election is “a Muslim socialist.”

Martha, your letter reminded me of the words of my Irish grandmother (may she rest in peace), who might have read your letter and said, “God love her, warts and all.”

To her credit, Stirman understands that here in America people have a First Amendment right to speak their opinions freely. But when you share your opinion with others, you are also accountable for what you say. Just ask Trent Lott, Natalie Maines, Don Imus — to name a few — who might have chosen their words differently had they known the dust-up that would follow. Perhaps the attention Stirman is getting might lead to this type of revelation.

I’m willing to bet in Stirman’s case, it is not likely that folks that read about her online today will even remember her name tomorrow, but her words have transcended her ignorance of their meaning.

Wednesday morning, on the drive to my kids’ school, we listened to the radio and all the controversy over Stirman’s letter. The first question my kids asked me was, “What’s a Muslim?” Since I was not able to honestly answer — I sincerely was speechless when I tried to define “Muslim” — the best response I came up with was to say Islam is a religion, just like Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and any other host of religions that any one of the billions of the people on the planet might choose to practice.

“Is Obama a Muslim?” my 8-year-old daughter asked. “No,” I said. Then she said: “Then why are they saying he’s a Muslim?”

I struggled to answer this simple-sounding question, so instead we talked about bigotry, ignorance and intolerance on the way to school. When my daughter got out of the car, she turned to me and said, “I’m glad that lady said those things. It’ll make people think.”

I agreed. Bigotry is an inescapable fact of American society and certainly a proper subject to broach with your kids, in my opinion. We talked about the importance of decency, quietness, courtesy, tolerance of people you might not like or agree with and of the importance of being informed prior to sharing your opinions.

I drove off feeling like the day had gotten off to a good start. Thanks, Martha.