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🐝 BusyBusyBee 🐝's avatar

When Lincoln was shot he wore a coat embroidered with “One Country, One Destiny.” I’ve turned to those 4 words to help me process this moment. This assassination attempt was one of the worst events I’ve seen in our democracy. It feels like we are a country unmoored…THREAD

I’ve never experienced a time more unpredictable yet with such generational consequence. So what does this particular moment mean? I remembered a passage in a book I read. “Power and violence are opposites; where the one rules absolutely, the other is absent.” 2/10

The deep unease we carry is in part the fact that we witnessed with the shooter one person trying to use the means of violence to impose their will upon a nation of 330 million and subvert the power of people that underlies our very democracy. 3/10

And now trepidation across our nation as “The practice of violence, like all action, changes the world, but the most probable change is to a more violent world.” We fear retaliation, reprisal or escalation. But let us remind ourselves that it doesn’t have to be that way. 4/10

In the aftermath of other recent shocks to our country, we failed to unify and instead sadly grew more divided. I had hoped that these shocks would be what I called defibrillator moments that would shock our irregular heart beats into normal rhythm, but we fell far short. 5/10

It’s not just that our divisions have grown so wide in our country, but our willingness to allow contempt to accompany us. It’s not just a disrespect that we see towards one another, it’s a deeper disregard and a disgust of one another. 6/10

We are losing touch with the understanding that we are all part of something bigger than all of us. As those 4 words of Lincoln - One County, One Destiny - remind us, the commonality we share runs deep and cannot be forgotten or dismissed. 7/10

Violence is cowardice not strength. It is fiercely undemocratic. As we process this shock, we can choose to realize that we’ve gone too far as a society down the path of contempt. We are not each other’s enemy. We are not at war with each other. 8/10

Choosing to unite instead of incite does not mean we dismiss the magnitude of our differences. But it compels us to be cautious and precise about our next steps, our words, and our actions in this unbelievably precarious moment. 9/10

One Country, One Destiny doesn’t mean we all agree, but instead reminds us that we share the same fate. We collectively mourn the death of the rally attendee, we are relieved that Trump wasn’t seriously injured. Now let’s unite around Lincoln’s vision One Country, One Destiny.END

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tupper's avatar

Thank you. Great

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🐝 BusyBusyBee 🐝's avatar

YW! I don’t go on there just to kill time anymore but I keep an account because, sadly, it’s still the best place to get *breaking news*. Here’s my tip if you’re a news junkie like me and can’t get your fix elsewhere, I’ve started just googling people I follow and just adding Twitter to the end so I don’t have to deal with garbage content and can bounce directly to (at least what I consider) trusted, well informed sources. Using that as a launch point generally enables me to avoid seeing much toxic shit.

Edit. Oh and also, And Twitter search functionality is horrible. 😁

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