Erin Quill
Writing and working during an attempted coup
On 6 January 2021, some extremists who believe they are United States patriots, stormed the United States Capitol in order to stop the confirmation of Joe Biden as our 46th President and Kamala Harris as our 46th Vice President. The destruction and hatred from and leading up to this attempted coup of the United States democracy is staggering but unsurprising. Trump has been fanning the flames of hatred and conspiracies for years...this is how he will be known on his way out and forever more.
So...how was I supposed to work and write during this?
Work was a challenge and writing, aside from a few tweets, was nonexistent. Really, how is someone supposed to focus during the possible collapse of society?
Actually, the only reason I found out about the Capitol was because of all the alerts on my phone. It's hard to keep working through the continuous beeps. My first thought on the attack was "Wait. What?" but also "How can this be where we are as a country? How did we fail so badly? When will this get better?"
Sadly though, this is where we are. And this is who we are.
We are the people who managed to overturn the Senate, confirm our new president even after the attempted coup, and set up a government where we can get things done without constant stonewalling.
We are also the people who believe patriotism equals hatred and white people deserve more leniency than any other race. Or so the videos seemed to portray.
So, writing during the potential turning point in the crumbling of democracy...not feasible.
And work only happened because I had to keep going. It gave me the time to process (at least through the initial shock) and provided me a moment of reprieve before I had to face our country's reality. It's shameful.
Even through the shame I felt, and still feel, I'm hopeful for a brighter future. Through education and the understanding that love, communication, and the movement out of extremism towards the middle, we can unite into a country we can be proud of once again.
Let's get there. Soon.
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*Photo by Jhefferson Santos from Pexels*