Eight years ago, I was not at all happy when Barack Obama won the Presidency. I was disappointed, worried, and could not bring myself to watch his victory speech or to watch his inauguration. I managed to pretty much ignore him for the first two years of his Presidency. And yet, even then, I did not feel the marrow-deep terror for my country that I do today.
So, please, stop telling me to pull up my chin, smile, and accept this as "the will of the people." Stop telling me that everything will be okay and the Republic will endure. That advice would have been appropriate eight years ago.
It is no longer appropriate today.
I trust that, as individuals, we will eventually make it through this vale of tears. We still have faith, hope, and love. We still have the Church and the sacraments. We have hope we'll all eventually meet up in heaven.
But the journey there has suddenly turned dark and nightmarish, and there are fellow travelers on this path who are also scared but don't have the reassurances of faith that we do that this too shall pass. Perhaps you might find it in your heart in the next few days, weeks, months, years, to acknowledge their concerns, to shoulder this cross they don't know they've been given, and to ease whatever other burdens they carry.
There's a difference between acknowledging that we should aspire to "Be not afraid!" and refusing to acknowledge a legitimate reason to be frightened and despairing when a terrible threat becomes a stark new reality.
(Image: Boy pulling up collar of turtleneck sweater, Pixabay.)
