A Much-needed Snowy Break

I’ve always enjoyed watching snow fall. This is, in part, due to the fact that it doesn’t happen too often in Texas, so you are fascinated when it does. The main reason I enjoy it, though, is because of the silence it brings. There are no claps of thunder. There is no noise when it hits the roof. It’s almost as if time stands still and you can hear yourself think. There is a beauty in its simplicity. Today, as I write this, I am staring out my window at the first snowfall I’ve seen in quite a while. My neighbors seem to be enjoying this Lone Star anomaly as well. I’ve really needed something simple like this to bring an end to a tumultuous week.

I think back to when I’d watch TV as a kid and get up to change the channel (which is something we had to do way back then). Quite often, as you were turning the knob looking for something different to watch, you’d come across a channel with no broadcast, or “snow.” Now, as a kid, that channel scared me after watching Poltergeist, but now I see the similarities of what is happening outside my window. It was a break in programming…a break in receiving a signal.

For what seems like forever, I’ve turned on the TV or seen notifications on my phone of breaking news. My immediate thought is, “Oh crap! What NOW?!” That thought rose to new heights this week with what happened at the Capitol. I pray it was the last event of that magnitude, but only time will tell. I’ve shed a lot of tears over the last few days given what transpired and am sure to shed many more as the days pass. My heart breaks that Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick lost his life as a result of this violence. So many others were put in harm’s way. Sadly, I had zero doubts that something of this magnitude would happen given what this President has been saying and doing since announcing his run for the office in 2015. I just never wanted to be proven right.

As someone who loves this country, it is beyond me how so many in office and in places of authority have let the President go unpunished for his words and actions over the last few years. Many continued to sing his praises after his despicable behavior time and time again. I have lost track of how many letters and calls I have made to Congressmen and women voicing my opinion, which has appeared to go unheard. I took great pleasure in casting my vote in this last election, but living in a red state makes you feel even less powerful when so many still refused to see him and his supporters for who they are.

Many see them now though.

The blinders are off. The rose-colored glasses have been smashed. What hurts my heart so much though is why…WHY did it take the events of January 6^th, 2021 for this to happen when many of us saw it all along?! Sadly, I don’t have the answer to this question.

So, here I sit, looking out my window seeing the beautiful snow falling, enjoying the silence it brings. I know that in a short time it will turn to rain and the quiet will subside. The noise will return, and, with it, so will the voices of so many who have been on the wrong side of history for quite some time.

My hope is that in this moment of clarity that has come about after recent events, we will finally find a way to come together as a country and begin to speak to each other and not AT each other. We MUST require this of those in power as well and call them out when they deny the truth, regardless of party affiliation. We absolutely have to hold those accountable for their actions, especially the President and not let this unpatriotic plague evolve any further. Finally, I pray we do not continue to repeat the mistakes of our recent past but rather learn from them and find common ground whose foundation isn’t formed on quicksand.