Today, January 6, is recognized as the Holy Day of Epiphany. This is a day of light, illumination and discovery. It is said that this is the day the wise men found the baby Jesus after following the star. Some even believe these wise people followed the star for several years. This has always been a special day for me because it is also my mother’s birthday! Today she would have turned 99 years old. My sisters and I usually celebrate this day together with tea, fruitcake and wearing of our off-white blazers, Mom’s “go to outfit”.
However, this day, January 6, 2021, our attention was ripped away from our celebration and our focus was on the horrific happenings at our Capitol.
Where was the illumination today? It seemed like our country had lost its mind and soul for the day. The smoke is starting to clear and we will continue to process the events we witnessed at our sacred Capitol building today.
Today, January 6, is recognized as the Holy Day of Epiphany. This is a day of light, illumination and discovery. It is said that this is the day the wise men found the baby Jesus after following the star. Some even believe these wise people followed the star for several years. This has always been a special day for me because it is also my mother’s birthday! Today she would have turned 99 years old. My sisters and I usually celebrate this day together with tea, fruitcake and wearing of our off-white blazers, Mom’s “go to outfit”.
Mr. Trump fueled his theories of denial of election results at an early morning rally in front of the White House today. His enthusiasm for his erroneous rhetoric fanned the flames of many looking to a President for marching orders. He threw the theories into his crowd, yelled go and then slunk away. A coward fanning the flames of denial.
Now denial is real and serves a purpose in our psyches. Denial protects us until we are sturdy enough to handle the truth. However, denial is temporary and if uninterrupted life eventually becomes very “ungentle”.
This “ungentleness” is known as REALITY. Our President’s lack of leadership today, his leading these people down this path of denial led to the reality of our disastrous day. It is a honestly a real miracle more people were not hurt or killed.
The illumination today is that the darkness of his presidency is now, unequivocally, on the way out.
I have made it clear that I have had a very “creepy” feeling about DT since he came into our consciousness. I miss speeches about unity and inspiration, and hope. I miss having a President who believes in the rights of the people with disabilities and respects women. It seems the division in our country, between those on different sides of the political conversation have become dark.
I have missed the light of having differing views without harsh judgment. The divisive rhetoric has annoyed me and has made me uncomfortable as I navigated my need to be a peacemaker with my need to speak up for what what is best for the least of these in our country. These four years have left me limp from managing this tension. I can only hope the curtain of this dark tension will be lifted after today.
Mr. Pence provided illumination by rejecting conspiracies and following the outlines rules of our Constitution today. Even Mr. McConnell turned his flashlight on a little today.
Illumination is happening as the Senators and members of Congress are meeting now, continuing the work they were elected to do.
Illumination is happening with the election results in Georgia today! Congratulations Mr. Warnock and Mr. Ossoff.
Illumination happened as I watched the self control of the National Guard, FBI and the police as they were pushed and taunted and maintained firm stances without resorting to the use of the forces available to them. Now, I can only hope the control these officers exhibited will serve as training programs for all officers when they encounter protesters of color.
The Chocolate Drawer 