I write this one week after the storming of the US Capital by supporters of President Trump, and one week before the inauguration of Joe Biden. I, like the rest of you, are still trying to digest all that occurred last week and why it occurred. I mean it is obvious that President Trump incited the crowd to violence; the question that I am struggling with is, what is missing in people’s lives that is filled by the cult-like drama around the president and his followers? I don’t use the term cult lightly, the level of belief by many of those who attended last week’s rally was religious like. There is a deep need in the soul of our nation, a desire for meaning which has been hijacked by the right-wing. People want to feel like they make a difference, like their lives matter. It is easy to believe the lies being fed to them on every information platform that they interact with. What is needed is what the Rev. Martin Luther King called “the long and bitter — but beautiful — struggle for a new world.” That struggle is just that. It is not easy, but it will bring us to a new and better world.

All that said, I am looking forward to watching the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris next week, and I invite you to join me in a watch party beginning at 11:30 am via Zoom (Please find that link in our Resource Guide.).

Peace,

Hank