WANTING A DIFFERENT THEME

by Mary Reiman

I had great plans. I was going to have a new theme for my 2021 maven posts. It was going to take a different twist. I would write about all the words and phrases I'm going to focus on this year. I love words and definitions, and this year's writings would be framed in a lighter tone, because we deserve a lighter tone. And then Wednesday happened...and although I don't have time for this...I really don't...I realized it must be addressed before I can move forward. 

I still can't articulate my thoughts other than the three words I  shared several times in 2020: a moral compass. A need for it, the importance of it, especially for our politicians, and being appalled (yes, truly appalled) by the actions of our president. That's the president of our nation, not the president of a bank. He can be the president of a bank because I can choose not to share my funds with his bank. But inciting violence because he did not win the election. I can't wrap my head around that behavior. I can find no words to explain or understand that action. 

I'm guessing the president might say I may choose to move to another country if I don't agree with his agenda. But I am a citizen of this democracy and I have a right to live in this country and have my vote count, as does everyone in the United States. And on Wednesday afternoon we had the right to hear, peacefully hear, the final results of a fair election.

So there. I did what I was not going to do. I addressed this sadness from the week because it's hard to get those images out of my head. I've been to the U.S. Capitol and stood in many of those spaces that were sanctimoniously desecrated. For me, being appalled has nothing to do with being a Republican or a Democrat or any other party affiliation. That's not what matters. What matters is being a good human. 

What matters is having a moral compass.