About two years ago I attended the National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball championship with my daughter, an alumna of the champion, the University of Virginia. The Cavaliers won both very close tournament games, each with exciting and nearly unbelievable endings. Immediately after the final game, the young man sitting next to me gave me a stunned look and asked, “What just happened?”
Being a Boomer, I proceeded to give him a play-by-play of the final minutes of the game. He looked at me like I was crazy…he didn’t really want an answer, he was surprised by the extraordinary outcome and by asking “what happened,” he was beginning to process the event.
After the past weeks of events in our country I wake up each morning thinking to myself, “What just happened?”
The pandemic rages. Infections are at record levels with more people than ever dying each day. The vaccination efforts are moving too slowly. Businesses are closing their doors, estimated at over 100,000 since last March. Domestic terror at the Capitol has ensued and the potential for more appears imminent. Oh yes, and shortly we intend to watch the dramatic transfer of power in our country! What just happened?
The purpose of this blog is to process my thoughts relative to life in our country right now. My worry is for the millions of people trying to process the death of loved ones, their worry for their health, the deterioration of their business, the loss of their livelihoods, and their trepidation for our country. I don’t hear much about this grief on the 24-hour television news cycle, in the daily newspapers, or on social media. I am getting the sense that our country will be left with the majority of people, all affected by a multitude of losses, walking the streets with that puzzled look on their faces – “What just happened?”
I’m writing to affirm to these people (including myself) that these events are unusual to the extreme! Most folks are just trying to process it and are not sure how. You are not alone. It’s okay to ask friend, “What just happened?” I would encourage you to do so. And to the friend…just listen!The impact of the national trauma we are experiencing is dangerous. I see the potential of a country stunned and frozen by death, fear, and confusion when we should be reconciling recent events and helping others. Please begin to mourn your losses by expressing them to others, including professional counselors. The country will rebound and at some time in the future you will be able to answer the question, “What just happened?”
At Peace 