Take a time out

It has been a week and many are still trying to wrap their minds around what happened at our Nation’s Capitol January 6.

For some it clearly marks the definition between “us” and “them”, while for others it shows, in glaring clarity, that our country must come together to heal what was becoming an ever-widening rift.

Men scaled the walls of one of our most beloved institutions, while onlookers wondered who they were, which side they were on, and wondered what was going to happen next as reporters relayed whatever information they had at that moment, no matter how sketchy that information might have been.

We have had months of being cooped up with COVID-19 and tempers and patience are at a breaking point. Perhaps what we need, as individuals and as a country, is a time out.

Recalcitrant children sit in the corner until they’re ready to behave. We need a time out to behave as adults.

We all need a break. We all need a single ray of sunshine to make us feel better. Reflection and contemplation go a long way toward our well being and when we stop, sit down and engage in those moments, quietly mulling over what we may have said or done that hurt someone else, we see ourselves for who we truly are.

Somewhere inside each of us it that feeling of pride when our little league team scores a home run. Somewhere there is still laughter.

Let us find that pride and that laughter again.