My Thoughts on the Attack on the U.S. Capitol

Today, my heart is broken. I've been watching, as most of you probably have, the news coverage on the attack on the U.S. Capitol, the insurrection in D.C. for several hours. I've been sad, scared, worried, astounded, angry, mortified, and nauseous as I watched domestic terrorists (no, they are not protestors) storm the Capitol building.​ I'm still watching the coverage as I'm writing this.

Source: pbs.org (https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/photos-a-mob-stormed-the-u-s-capitol-then-they-paused-to-take-cellphone-pics)

One dead.

Several injured.

Damage to the Capitol building.

Tear gas.

The National Guard.

Curfews in the capitol.

Words like "coup" and "anarchy" and "sedition" and "terrorism" being used to describe a domestic attack on American soil.

The utter disregard for enforcing even a portion of the “law and order” that was rained down on BLM protestors this summer.

I'm not sure what will happen next. I would hope that all the tension in this country would dissipate, that Americans would come together instead of allowing themselves to be driven further apart. I want to see the arrests that should have taken place much earlier. I think the American people deserve that, at least.

I want to see this behavior denounced at the highest levels. Even though this behavior was incited by the person at the highest level.

I usually try to have a takeaway from negative events, if such words can even come close to describing all the feelings I'm having at the moment. I wish I did. I wish this wasn’t America.

But it is.

We need to be better. We become better by doing the work on ourselves, standing up for those who can’t stand up for themselves, and being the change we want to see in the world.

That’s the America I believe in. Let’s make it reality in 2021.