January 6, 2021 – An Insurrection, and an Attempted Coup Against the United States of America

The reason I’m writing and posting this today is the major social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter/X are said to be throttling posts about today, the third anniversary of the January 6 attempted coup/insurrection against the United States of America.

Yes, it was a fucking attempted coup.

Do I have your attention now? Good. Because this is for readers who have voted Republican in both 2016 and 2020, and especially those who voted for the former President. The President who was NOT evacuated out of Washington DC three years ago as a raging mob stormed the United States Capitol building. A man who took over TWO HOURS to call off the mob and tell everyone to back down. And a man who still REFUSES to concede his defeat in the 2020 Presidential Election.

To the readers who voted for him, I want you to ask yourself why. And keep asking why until you find all the answers you can. But I will warn you, you might not like the answers you find and sooner or later, you will have to deal with them. I say this because I don’t want to hear excuses anymore. And I sure as hell don’t want to hear any lies about what happened three years ago today.

I have hesitated to write like this today but I’m pushing through because I can’t be silent anymore. I write to reach out in conscience, in empathy, and with compassion. What happened three years ago today on Capitol Hill was without conscience, without empathy, and without compassion. It was raging hatred for a system of government that is about lifting all people up and giving each person a voice in their government. The mob that attacked the Capitol building was made up of people who felt they are the only people that matter, and that everything belongs to them, and that everyone else must bow down to them in total submission.

As a young child in the 1980’s, I was a quiet, introverted, and emotionally sensitive child. This made me a huge target for uptight, conservative, moralistic, judgmental assholes both child and adult. These people made me feel like my compassion, my empathy, and my conscience were weaknesses, like those things made me a bad person because it made me different from them.

In order to cope with their bullshit, I made excuses for their awful behavior towards me. I blamed myself for a lot of it, thought that I had to have done something wrong in order to be on the receiving end of that bullying abuse. But over the last seven years, I’ve learned I did not deserve to be treated with contempt and hatred for being sensitive, for feeling compassion and empathy for other people, especially people in need of support and encouragement. Because of this hate and contempt, I have held myself back pretty much all my life. But as I write here, I’m learning not to hold myself back like I have before. My words are my way of reaching out here.

Three years ago on this date, my faith in this world and the people in this country was rocked hard. It was cracked in a way that will never, ever heal over. Nor will I ‘get over it’ like the former President and his evil cult would like me to. Because I won’t just ‘get over’ all the shit I went through, and all the silence I encased my thoughts and feelings in. Though I believe things will work out for the better and I know healing is possible, I also know never to underestimate the capacity for hatred and destruction in people, too. So in order not to live on a diet of nothing but hatred and rage, I take a deep breath and I say, “Ask yourself why you think and feel the way you do.” Because the assholes in this world, the ones that lash out at other people who are different from them, don’t want you to ask questions, or challenge what they say, and worst of all, they don’t want you think and feel anything other than what the want you to.

And if anyone reading this is saying, “That’s not what I meant/they meant”, then what did you/they mean? Find your words like I have, words that I’ve spent years looking for by asking questions, processing the answers, and continuing to ask the questions that never stop coming. But I will not make excuses for bad behavior, nor deny the truth in front of me.

January 6, 2021 was a coup against the United States of America and the values this country was built on, that all people were created equal, and that each person has a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Those principles were born from conscience, empathy, and compassion for all people.

And for any readers thinking of just sitting this next election out, I want you to ask yourself why you think your voice, and your vote don’t matter. I’m not telling you how to vote and I never will. But I want you to ask yourself what your voice and vote are, and where they come from. Because three years ago, thousands of voices on Capitol Hill were screaming for blood and calling for death and destruction.

Today, I call for hope, peace, and love. Choose or Lose.