Good Morning! Here’s the Monday Morning Blog!
How was your week last week?
Did you check in with that teen in your life? Jim took our young adults and new ice fishing gear on a father/son fishing day trip. They caught a couple of fish but learned a lot for the next time that they go.
Did you hear about what happened last week?
US Capital Building
A group of people got together in Washington D.C. at a rally down the street from the U.S. Capitol Building, where our elected officials were counting votes to certify the 2020 election results for the positions of President and Vice-President of our country. The people attending the rally didn’t agree with the results that were going to come from the certification of the ballot counting. So, instead of remaining in peaceful protest, which is within their rights as citizens of the United States, they decided to rush the capitol, break windows and get in, unlawfully, to make their feelings known to those people doing the counting.
What should have happened?
The offices of President and Vice-President each have a term that one can serve. In the United States, one term is serving four years. Those offices are limited to two terms (if they are re-elected to serve a second term.) When their term is up, they are responsible for a peaceful transition of power from themselves to the next ones elected to hold the position.
What did happen?
Since our current president believes there were issues in the election process, he also believes he should have earned a second term as president. So, he hasn’t been very cooperative about a peaceful transition of power to the people who did win the election based on the results of the counted votes. His supporters who attended the rally believe the same things our current president does about those results. They wanted to let the people counting the votes know how they feel. So, they went to the capitol and things got out of hand.
According to the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) website, the 2020 election took place during a very stressful time in our history. Between the pandemic, economic distress and racial unrest, a lot of strong emotional reactions were being put forth which stirred up disagreements between many Americans. Regardless of the outcome of the election, we have a lot of work to do to heal and move forward as a country.
What can we do?
Moving forward from here, there are a few things to keep in mind
Respect the democratic process – there has been a process we have used for hundreds of years to run the elections, get the results, and transition from one president and his team to the next without violence. If the process is not working, we need to talk about it and make appropriate changes. Until then, we need to respect how the process works.
Channel views and feelings in a positive direction – you may be having confusing feelings about what happened. You may agree or disagree with what happened. Either viewpoint is ok. Be sure to keep your reactions positive. Talk to other people about how you feel but don’t become mean to others or destructive to property in showing how you feel.
Accept people and their differences – the United States is made up of many people who are of different races, religions, and hold different beliefs. We don’t have to agree with everyone else, but respect and embrace the differences we have with each other.
Keep the lines of communication open. Be willing to listen to others and talk about what’s on your mind. If we talk about issues with other people, and listen to what they have to say, we may be able to understand and work with each other to avoid events like what happened at the Capitol last week.
Don’t be part of the problem, be part of the solution.
Have a good week!
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