This column comes to you in the aftermath of the Capitol siege by domestic terrorists. So many of us watched in horror for hours as hundreds of domestic terrorists bearing Trump banners and Confederate flags barged into the building while our elected representatives were certifying the electoral votes from our 50 states.
A Senate aide had the presence of mind to direct her staff to save the mahogany boxes containing those ballots. Later in the evening, after the crowds had been dispersed, and the Capitol building deemed safe, the electoral votes were indeed certified with Biden and Harris officially certified to be our next president and vice president.
Can you imagine if the deranged hordes had been able to carry out their intentions (some carried pipe bombs, Molotov cocktails, police zip-tie cuffs and a noose intended for Vice President Mike Pence)? It’s a dark time for America, with deep divisions and unrest at the forefront of the news cycle, as COVID continues its unrelenting march through the lives and livelihoods of everyone in the nation.
If you have been reading my columns over the past several years, you may gather that I am an optimist, an idealist, and a realist. I’ve lived through dark times before, including the assassinations of three great leaders all within a short timeframe: JFK, MLK, RFK. I saw smoke rising into the air at the time of the Detroit riots, west of the neighborhood where I grew up in Michigan. I remember the Oklahoma City bombing by Timothy McVeigh, one disgruntled guy who figured out how to make a bomb out of a Ryder truck filled with ammonium nitrate fertilizer, nitromethane and diesel fuel. One man killed 168 people and injured hundreds more while taking down the Federal Building. In that light, it’s alarming how much more catastrophic the Jan. 6 events could have been.
We have to take a collective breath now and move forward together in a conscious, careful and loving way. We have to communicate with each other, and really listen to each other. We have to realize that we are all members of one race, the human race. We share the same need for affection, a career we enjoy, a comfortable home. We can and must do better.
So let’s make 2021 the year when together we put COVID in the rearview mirror, the year we roll up our sleeves and get involved in our communities, the year we befriend our neighbors and engage in discussion about how we view the world. It really is a beautiful planet. And our time here is all too short. So please, wear a mask when you’re out among others, wash your hands often, be safe and be kind.
If you have a San Carlos story to share, or would like to get involved in your community, please contact San Carlos Area Council VP Patricia Mooney at [email protected].
— By San Carlos Area Council vice president Patricia Mooney.
