Living Through History Sucks

                 I had a chunk of time pretty early this morning, so I had three-quarters of a pretty good post written and ideas to polish it up and finish it.  Then the day, as it was, got rolling.

                Almost twenty years ago, I was finishing my Theatre History I homework on Greek or Roman theatre while letting the news run in the background, so I could know what the weather was going to be like for the rest of the day.  It was just about time to put the work down and run down the hall to take a shower when Matt Lauer turned to the camera and said there would be a special report after these messages.  I was rooted to the spot, because special reports were something that just jumped into programming, not something that was previewed.  It turned out that the news team needed a couple minutes to figure out what was going on.  I was on the phone with my father as we watched the second plane hit.  I had called him because I knew that he had turned off the television news the minute my mother left for school and was sitting in our light-filled living room at home, enjoying whatever bestseller the library had secured for him that week.  He told me to make good choices and hung up, ready to call my mother.  I took my shower and returned to a message on the machine:  "Turn the TV back on.  This has just turned into a Tom Clancy novel."

               Today, I had pounded out a goodly bunch of loosely-connected thoughts about triplicate forms and red polyester pants when Tiny woke up.  We had breakfast and played and had started some Sesame Street, when I settled onto the internet to check in on how the confirmation of the electoral votes was going.  People were discussing Arizona's challenge and how long this was going to take.  And then the new developments came out--the Capitol was being stormed.  The Capitol was breached for the first time since the War of 1812.  There were people who were possibly armed looking for anyone in the offices.  The entire building had been evacuated. This had just turned into a Tom Clancy novel.

                I couldn't turn on any news networks or even NBC/ABC/CBS.  Kiddo tends to lounge in the living room during school breaks while eating her snacks, and the tidbits she'd pick up would terrify her, which she would immediately convey to her entire class.  I like her teacher too much to make her come up with an improvised lesson on insurrection with parents breathing down her neck about "left-leaning teaching."  I kept just watching what was going on via the internet.

                My growing concern about what was going to happen between Labor Day and Inauguration Day this year has not been a secret.  I'm still terrified, but it gives me a lot of hope that Congress is still meeting (in an undisclosed location) and that Twitter is finally suspending the calls to arms from our current incumbent.  It has become clear that something has to give.  We have to hold people responsible for the choices they are making. 

                The original post for today will go up tomorrow.  It will be less political than this one.  Be safe.