I've been so upset for so long by the divisive and inflammatory rhetoric of our President and by his actions. It upsets me so that he has actually convinced so many people that any news not presented by him or alternative media is Fake. Actual facts no longer matter to so many people.
The underlying and often overt racism of so many, so afraid of change to their status quo is appalling.
Yesterday I hit a wall and am beyond upset but am now afraid. I'm afraid for our Democracy. I'm afraid of what could happen in the next 10 days and after that for the safety of our new President and Vice President. I'm afraid for people of color. I'm afraid that we won't be able to speak civilly to friends and neighbors who may think about things differently from ourselves.
I've tried to have open and honest dialogue with those I don't agree with on politics. If I state facts or look up information they've sent or provided facts regarding misinformation they've sent, I'm told I'm lecturing and shouldn't have to check their information for accuracy. I've been dismissed in discussions with others as citing fake news on everything from what the President said to my quoting National Geographic stating there's no proof that Covid 19 was manufactured in China.
As I get older I get weepy more easily. Today I spoke to 2 different Customer Service Agents from 2 different companies regarding different matters. I found myself tearing up as I started to say goodbye to the first. We ended up continuing the conversation.
This young black woman agreed with my concern She told me several friends texted her yesterday saying if that were a Black Lives Matter Protest (see photo below), the preparation and handling of the crowd would have been different. Like me, she was glued to the TV and stayed up until the early hours of the morning watching events unfold. She too turned on the TV again this morning to check to see if it was just a bad dream.
We talked through the events and gave each other a chance to vent our feelings a little to someone outside of our bubble of conversation. We agreed that yesterday was not a protest. It was a planned show of force by a mob of rioters intent on harm. They came in from around the county and were egged on by a 90 min in-person speech, not a tweet, by our President. They came prepared with their own helmets vests and riot gear and there was no show of force to protect the Capitol Building and the people discussing our democratic process inside. I finally said goodbye and told her to take care of herself and to be careful in the days to come.
I later had the good fortune to speak to a Supervisor in another company about an issue that has taken me weeks to try to resolve. Once again, I found myself starting to tear up and had trouble speaking at first. I apologized and told him that I've just been so upset by recent events and this unresolved issue didn't help my state of mind.
This African American man calmed me down and told me it was going to be OK, we were going to be OK. He helped resolve my issue and left me with these words "One thing I know for sure and one thing I know for certain, We are a Great Nation and We Shall Overcome".
May God or whomever you look to in time of need, protect us, and may he bless this Country.
https://mashable.com/article/capitol-police-trump-riot-black-lives-matter-protest/
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