Reflection on January 6 events

It’s been a year since the events that took place at the Capitol. And like other significant events, it’s important to take some time to reflect.

I still don’t know what to really call what happened last year on Epiphany. An insurrection? A raid? A riot? An attack? Maybe the difficulty stems from the complexity of the situation. Maybe it stems from the fact that those in charge that day have not suffered any consequences as of yet. Maybe because the events struck a nerve for me and my personal history with the building and what it represents. I don’t know.

I still don’t know what to make of my observation that there are great swaths of this country that inhabit different realities where what is true is based on what benefits or harms ones ideological/partisan loyalties. This is not healthy and continuing on this path does not end well for us as a nation.

I still don’t know what to do with people who are caught up in the duality of seeing everything from an either/or, all/nothing, right/wrong standpoint.

We are a nation deeply divided with no intention on healing. An enemy foreign power couldn’t have wanted anything better for this country than how we currently are bitterly divided and at each others’ throats.

So how do we go forward? We have people who won’t acknowledge the past, let alone make an attempt at reconciliation, or seek forgiveness. Reconciliation requires an acknowledgement of wrong and a desire for change. That doesn’t exist.