My Soul Hurts

I really hoped that 2021 would be better. I didn’t come into it with high hopes. But there were hopes. I believed that after the atrocities of 2020 that things must change. They did…for the worse. 1/6/21 was such a horrific day. I am haunted by the images and the questions. The words of the politicians, mainly the president, who fueled a fire that became an inferno echo in my head. The empath in me feels the fear and uncertainty of this country as we watched in horror.

Many of us are still living in fear as we move forward toward the inauguration. We are scared of what is possibly coming. This is not the America we grew up in. This is more like the foreign countries we watched on tv and wondered what could cause such hatred in the world. Now we are living that hatred and wondering what the hell happened to allow this? How did the people we know become these people who are enraged and filled with hate?

Aren’t these the same people who told the rest of the country four years ago to “get over it and accept our new president”? Why can’t they follow their own advice? Why is it that they can’t just accept that this vile, hateful man lost? Yes, there are a lot of them. But there’s also a lot of others who were tired of the hate and tired of the bullying. And those people voted. And while they may have had a lot of people, the other team did as well and this is the one time I was glad we had an electoral college. For once, it did what it should.

I have been grieving and depressed about what has been going on over the last week. Actually, I guess the last four years has just caught up and it’s been overwhelming. My soul hurts. All of this divisiveness and hate has worn on me. My heart aches that people can’t seem to stop screaming and realize that we are never going to accomplish anything by fighting each other. Nothing. All of this damn fighting is for NOTHING. It needs to stop. The world is laughing at us. They are watching the USA as if we are nothing but a fucking reality shit show. And guess what! That’s what we are right now.

If you want to make America great, then act like a good American citizen and do what is right for your COUNTRY and quit letting your fucking party dictate your behavior. If you want to say you are a Christian, ACT LIKE IT! I honestly do not think Jesus would have gone through the US Capitol smearing shit through the halls. Seriously. I do not think that is the answer when the question is WWJD? I also don’t think He would condone beating a police officer to death. So think about those things when you scream how Christian you are. Think about that when you pretend to pray. Then maybe you should actually pray.

I read an open letter tonight to Congressman Mo Brooks from someone who was a friend of his and a former colleague. The letter was one of the most well-written pieces I have read in quite some time. One thing that stopped me and just made me repeat it over and over was this passage where Mr. Barclay was pointing out the responsibility of the hateful words and how they incited violence: “You know full well that Mr. Trump’s rhetoric, and more to the point, your own rhetoric, fomented the violence which resulted in the breach of the Capitol, the destruction of property, and, most importantly, the murder of a law enforcement officer. His blood is on your hands, and you can never wash that stain from your soul.”

I read it and repeated it to myself out loud. “You can never wash that stain from your soul.” That is such a strong and damning statement. And it is so true. When we try to say that our actions should have or do not have any consequences, we are being irresponsible. Our words are like Newton’s Third Law of Motion. Each action has an equal and opposite reaction. “The statement means that in every interaction, there is a pair of forces acting on the two interacting objects. The size of the forces on the first object equals the size of the force on the second object. The direction of the force on the first object is opposite to the direction of the force on the second object.” (https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/newtlaws/Lesson-4/Newton-s-Third-Law#:~:text=Formally%20stated%2C%20Newton’s%20third%20law,force%20on%20the%20second%20object.)

Those words were the force and the riot was the reaction and the push back to the force. Basically, cause and effect. And now there is an indelible bloodstain on the hands of the president as well as other government officials who supported him, including those from my own state.

I doubt the president has the capacity to understand the meaning of the words from the letter, much less feel any remorse. But I do know of Mr. Brooks’ work throughout North Alabama and hope that these words pierce his conscience as they pierced my heart when I read them. I know Mr. Brooks has a conscience. I do feel his words will haunt him. I feel there will be remorse. Eventually. It may take some time, but the old saying is that time heals all wounds. I am truly praying that time will heal the wounds of my country. To be such a young country, we have gone through a lot and some things have been at the hands of our own citizens. I pray our citizens open their eyes and see that they’re doing nothing but destroying the country they so claim to love. If you truly love this country, you’ll stop. You will dig deep and realize that as an adult there are times when we endure things we don’t like. We do things for the greater good. We adult when we don’t want to. We behave like civilized people. We do not behave as King George did in 1776, which caused the American Revolution.

We all know the preamble to the Declaration of Independence. But do you know this: “He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.”

This is exactly what happened recently by our own fellow citizens. Our country should learn from the past and do better in the future. And right now I want to feel better. I want my soul to not hurt. I want to know that everything is going to be ok tomorrow and the next day and the day after.

God bless you and please…God bless the USA.

Dear Dems & Independents

I was listening to the radio this afternoon and heard someone talking politics who finally made sense. She was someone calling in to give her two cents on some things. I was really glad she did because she said something that I have been thinking about for a while. Divisiveness and electability.

The gist of her point was if the Democrats and Independents want any chance in hell of beating the Republicans come November, then they need to put up viable candidates who actually have a shot at winning. Quit taking shots at each other and splitting votes. We have a common goal: Fix this mess before it gets bigger.

We need to get real and pick the best candidates who are truly in the running and could possibly win this thing. Personally, I wouldn’t vote for Bernie or Biden. I’m sure you’re wondering why. Bernie is old and had a heart attack while campaigning for one thing. That right there is scary as hell. Who would his running mate be? I wanna know NOW who his choice for VP would be because if he miraculously won and keeled over in the Oval, I want to know who will be in charge next. That is the exact reason I didn’t vote for John McCain when he ran. I loved the man. But when they put Palin on the ticket, it was an automatic no. I was scared for his health and I sure as hell didn’t want her running my country. I also think Bernie’s idealistic dreams are a little much. Yes, it would be great to have some of the things but it’s not realistic. At all.

As for Biden, well I don’t like how he has felt up women and acted innocent about it. And even though I totally disagree with how Trump went about getting info on Hunter Biden and Joe, the info is still out. I don’t hate Biden, but I don’t trust him.

So who do I trust? I’m not 100% sure at this point to be honest. One name I wouldn’t mind seeing on a ticket right now is Mitt Romney. And I shake my head as I type that. I guess I need to make a formal apology to Mr. Romney. I am very sorry for my doubt of you, sir. I am not sorry that I didn’t vote for you a few years back. I feel that voting for Obama was right. But you showed more courage than I ever gave you credit for. Why don’t you leave the Republican party and be an Independent or a Dem? You can be a right-leaning Dem! I was inspired by your courage to vote your conscience and if you ran in November, you’d have my vote. And maybe put Elizabeth Warren as your VP? Just a thought.

I want this country back in order. I want this country not so divided. I want this country to become all that it can be. I refuse to say the maga bullshit. America is full of great people! But we need to calm the hell down and realize that screaming and yelling at each other is wrong. And while people scream and yell, you’re teaching your children this is ok. You’d never allow that in schools so maybe you should behave as if you are in a school. Teach your children by example. They shouldn’t be exposed to all this hatefulness. Know why? Children do what they see. And frankly, I don’t want you to be raising a bunch of assholes. We are better than that. YOU are better than that. And your children deserve better than that.

So if you want a great country, be a great citizen. And consider what you’re promoting when you vote.