America Will Fix Itself
Yesterday was ugly in America, and there will be more ugly days ahead. Angry, misguided people tend to lash out, especially when emboldened in a mob and spurred on by an orange tyrant. America was slapped across the face and abused, but she’s rising up and fixing the demons that haunt her. We have a long way to go, but yesterday will be a catalyst for those who stood by silently to rise up and join those who were fighting all along.
Change is hard. The violence and brutality and outrage we’ve seen in America are symptoms of underlying problems that needed to be addressed. And in addressing them we’ll create even more friction from those who perceive that something is being taken away from them. Outrage is big business, and there are plenty of platforms to feed and escalate it. Those platforms need a hard look too.
Free speech is a blessing and a curse. We all have the right to say what we want to say. But we don’t have the right to an audience. Tempering the outrage industry will be a tough but necessary step. I won’t pretend to know how to cool things down, but I believe it starts with helping people focus on using that energy for productive, positive things. Building instead of destroying.
Ultimately we’re all tiny humans living on a fragile planet that’s given her all for us, largely against her will. America is one very loud and self-absorbed part of a global community. We have our issues right now. But we’re figuring it out. And we’ll get it right. Because we have no other choice but to figure it out.
The last four years have been a slowly accumulating demonstration of how fragile our once-proud nation actually is. Yesterday hit a new peak. I’m so saddened and embarrassed by the rhetoric presented by unscrupulous rogue president, a spineless congress, and fanatical followers. Our confused world doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Yesterday was a lot like New Years Day, when you wake up a mess and overweight and angry at yourself and begin the long process of getting your ass back in shape. Trumpism was a wake-up call, and the country is rising up to do something about it. Hopefully the course correction lasts longer than NYE resolutions do.
Things are darkest before the dawn.