Dirty Sink Water

 The sink water is dirty and gross and the only way for it to change is to put my hand into it and unstop it and then we can move forward.  Dirty sink water is the image that keeps coming into my mind right now.  We are living in a time of conflict.  A time where people are preparing their retort without listening to the other person speak.  A time where we each individually believe we are more right than the person next to us, and that the louder we talk, the more we have proven our point.  The state of our political environment is as unhealthy to our country as the pandemic is to our physical health.  I am left to wonder what my kids will really take away from this time, will they remember the anger, or the sickness, or a mixture of it all.  I am constantly trying to talk to them about the importance of what our country is going through, that while it feels far away all of this does affect us, those around us, and our future. I want us as a family to take a breath, listen, stand in their shoes, and if we still don't agree, believe that it is ok to stand up for what we believe in without causing harm to others. We are talking about truth and why it is so important in leaders, we are talking about leaders and how important of a role they play, we are talking about the dangers of following any one individual, we are talking about voting and the rights we have in our country, we are talking and talking and talking.  Our kids are talking too, about friends they know whose families feel very differently than we do, about kids they know who have changed their minds about political figures in light of the capital insurrection, they are talking about how scary and foreign our country feels.  If we close our eyes it is all gone.  We are in a peaceful house, in a small town, appearing untouched by everything, but we can't close our eyes, it is time to stick our hands in that dirty sink water for us to move forward.  We must look and see and admit what has happened.  We must address what has gone wrong and confront what must come next.  We are talking to our kids because as hard of a time as this is, this is the time we need them to see the most. This is the time that growth comes from and pretending that we are not standing in the middle of this ugly truth of insurrection would be letting ourselves be part of the problem. As a family, we are choosing to be part of the solution, and it all starts with facing the truth and talking about it.