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Sun Dec  5 03:03:55 PM EST 2021
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In 2020, with all of us sitting at home during the Pandemic,
I had ample time to sit in front of the screens and watch
CSPAN-ish activity as events unfolded as well as every news
feed and social media take on the same.

It was the first time in a long, long time that I listened
to a politics.  Several years before, I stopped. I shut it
all down. I had enough trouble under my own roof; getting
concerned or outraged or swept away by anything someone on
TV had to say was a distraction at best -- really, a luxury
I didn't have.  After that, it was just a matter of habit:
There's enough going on under my own roof, in my own
neighborhood, and so forth, to listen to anything else.
Frankly, it was some of the most peaceful times of my life.

As attention shifted back to the antics of politicians on
the floor, I remembered what it was to be a soldier in the
Army, a federal employee, and a contractor working federal
contracts. Over time in each role, the "direct order" was no
longer sufficent -- "commander's intent" and general context
become important...

And I wondered: What do you suppose the Capitol Police are
thinking as they watch the chamber doors while the rhetoric
and antics are playing out at the podium behind them?

Extend the question to any situation, then ask yourself: How
much of society's day-to-day operations rely upon some type
of belief to rationalize one's own participation in what is
unfolding? And what happens when those beliefs come into
question?

How much do we let happen? What do we tolerate, and why?
Honor? Duty? An oath? Fear of reprisal or losing your job? A
belief that you don't make a difference? A belief that it's
someone else's job to do?

You have to imagine that, whatever trajectory we're on as a
society, there's the momentum of the past plus the sum of
each and every one of us in equilibrium. How many would have
to "wake up" to create a change?