Both my heart and my Capitol are broken. The images in yesterday's post hurt my heart in a visceral, physical way. I can feel it pounding as I type. Listening to the occasional Congressperson talk about securing the Capitol makes it worse.
G'ma and Daddooooo were big on seeing where it happened, no matter what it was. We took a helicopter over Gettysburg, toured Antietam in the pouring rain, got up close and personal with the Liberty Bell and Fraunces Tavern and The Freedom Trail in Boston, but Washington, D.C. was a recurring trip.
It made everyone happy.
By the time we were tweens, Brother and I could explore the museums on our own, meeting the parental units and our younger sister for lunch. As we got older, we could roam the city all day long. I sat in the gallery of the Senate, I saw Dorothy's ruby slippers in the Smithsonian. I never felt threatened or intimidated or uncomfortable. There were Park Police and Capitol Police discreetly keeping me safe.
There weren't any fences, except those telling me to keep off the newly planted grass seed.
I could accept that kind of fencing without feeling violated. What Brother shared is terrifying. The ability of any American to walk into her representative's office and speak truth to power has been shattered. Not by COVID, but by terrorists from within.
That we've done this to ourselves is the worst part. We've normalized Putin's Russia here in the USofA. Today's hearings concentrated on the 3 hour delay at the Pentagon before the National Guard could be called in. Further testimony revealed that they could have been there in 20 minutes, just as the insurgents were breaching the building, if only a decision had been made.
The delay that put the lie to the peaceful transfer of power. The delay that broke my heart. I'm not crazy about the optics of the military taking on citizens on American soil, but I wasn't that happy to see them clear the crowd at the Bible stunt either. Instead, we have video that still makes me cringe.
How about those optics?
My daughter's favorite family vacation was our trip to Washington,D.C. She has been promising her children that trip "but not while Trump is in the White House." Now, it will certainly be a strange thing for kids to see, I'm afraid. And yes, the saddest thing is that we the people did this to ourselves.
ReplyDeleteto ourselves...... and, according to today's news, from inside the Capitol, perhaps, as well.
Deletea/b