DEAR READER: Today is the anniversary of a dark day in our country.
On January 6, 2021, just as my family was about to celebrate my niece’s birthday, the ether was filled with scary images of Americans overtaking the Capitol of our beloved nation. It’s hard to believe that a whole year has passed since that fateful day.
We are used to hearing about civil unrest in other parts of the world. Although there have been many moments of death and destruction right here on our shores, we as a collective continue to somehow hold on to the belief that these bad things are happening somewhere else. Not so.
Unfortunately, politics has tarnished our national ability to sort through this horrific incident to find out who we should hold accountable and how we can move forward.
I have no interest in finding out the policy. I am writing to you now because I want each of us to think about our own actions and their consequences for our lives.
I wrote a book many years ago called “How To Be”. The point of this etiquette book was to help people understand how to exploit the essence of who they are and to understand what is expected of them on their path so that they can make smart, honest choices.
We were deep in the war with Iraq when this book came out and everyone was apparently sad about what was happening abroad. I paused and thought about the warfare we were igniting among ourselves. How often do we say something flippant that negatively affects another? How cavalier can we be when we throw asparagus at others? How common is it for people to judge one another and bring others together to believe the same thing – even when they know the accusation is false?
If you think about it, you can see yourself in this negative behavior. Most of us have been guilty of blaming others for our shortcomings. Too many have touched the pot of darkness as they experienced some form of deficiency in their own lives. I fear that is what is happening now in our world and it must stop.
America, the great experiment in democracy, exists as a country that chooses to see the highest in each other and make room for us all to live and thrive together. The promise in this country is that we can agree to peacefully disagree, that we can argue without destroying each other, that we can live side by side despite our differences. If it is lifted, what happened then? More importantly, what can we do about it?
I am convinced that each and every one of us can make a difference. We may be in danger, as Black Enterprise publisher Earl G. Graves used to advise.
We must stand up for the right thing and walk with integrity. We take responsibility for holding ourselves and others accountable for the care of our fellow citizens in the country and the world. We must resist the onslaught of violence, hatred, racism and evil. We must choose to walk the path of goodness. We can do this, one by one. We must.
Harriette Cole is a lifestyle expert and founder of DREAMLEAPERS, an initiative to help people access and activate their dreams. You can send questions to askharriette@harriettecole.com or c / o Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.
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