There is an image of me at the U.S. Capitol is from a photo my parents took when I was about a year and a half old standing on the Capitol grounds The Capitol is a sacred place to me, the place where I spent summer afternoons watching a young Senator from Massachusetts contend against a more seasoned politician from Texas.
Watching reports on the riots a year ago, a day I wanted to shake from my mind, tears fell as I watched the films of police officers attacked and the Capitol cordoned off. The temple of democracy still remains closed and I find myself yearning for former days when it was all so open.
I keep wondering how political differences turned into such violence. The academic explanations are just that, academic. There is a deep discontent in the land. There are those who thought they had the right to power who now feel displaced, primarily by new populations. They are easy prey for political demagogues. This has happened before in our history and we survived, but I am fearful we will not be so fortunate again.
Prayer for the Day
There are times, O God, when memory is a terrible thing,
For it can tear us apart in our hearts and soul;
But remember we must, O God, for without memory,
Terrible events will only repeat themselves.
We beseech you, God of remembrance and of the future,
To learn to use our memories to establish good and not evil.
In the name of the One who moves us into the future,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.
- Mark Twain, American writer (1835-1910)
There are two kinds of fighters: those who fight because they hate, and those who fight because they love.
- Criss Ami, American writer
In the Lord I take refuge; how can you say to me,
“Flee like a bird to the mountains,” for, look, the wicked bend the bow,
They have fitted their arrow to the string, to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart.
If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do>
Psalm 11: 1-3