Dear friends,
I wanted to repost a note I wrote shortly after the Capitol Riot of last year. I was feeling much tension in the people around me, and got many positive comments about this post. It seems as appropriate today as it was a year ago, and given the recent anniversary, I thought it might be good to share again.
Originally posted January of 2021
Well, can we say that 2021 has not started yet? Riots in our nation's capital to start the New Year is not what we were hoping for. That said, while I am not normally a Pollyanna, I'd like to share some positives that have come to me out of this current mess.
I have spoken with people who feel shocked and discouraged that our democracy has been threatened by the allegations of election fraud and the various baseless claims that have been repeated over and over. But to me, what has happened is actually an affirmation of our democracy. The courts have stood up as they were intended. The States have stood up as they were intended. The Election Boards have stood up as they were intended. One bad actor has hurled himself against the system aided and abetted by those craving power, and the courts simply asked "Where's the beef?" When no beef was found, the judges, appointed from both sides of the aisle, said, "Then please move along. There's nothing to see here."
The world moves in cycles. We are in a period of cynicism and polarization. But as bad as it has been, everything has stood up against the gale force winds. Yogananda said, "We do not become strong by wrestling with babies; we become strong by wrestling with strong people." May the resiliency we have shown in the face of threat remind everyone that while cycles come and go, the roots of democracy run deep enough to withstand our recent tests.
Back to the present…
It is my belief that our institutions will continue to stand up against the ongoing threats. Will they be shaken? Probably. Will they fall? I strongly doubt it. The brilliance of the Founding Fathers was to create governmental institutions that, while working together, are fairly independent of each other. A tapestry has always been much stronger than an individual thread, and this has proven to be the case in our times as well. Challenges, of course (welcome to Earth!). Smooth sailing, not likely. Failure, also very unlikely. Things tend to move towards an extreme and then, at a point impossible to predict, people wake up and say, “Wait a minute here!”… and then the craziness subsides. I suspect the current phase of polarization and division will end as it always has. Eventually and unexpectedly. May it be sooner rather than later!
Blessings,
David G., manager
for the Gang at East West