last week i wrote about balance. the events of last wednesday, when followers of donald trump invaded the united states capitol and forced legislators and staff to evacuate and temporarily abandon the counting of the votes of the electoral college, demonstrate what happens when our lives and beliefs are out of balance. no doubt, some of those involved in this attempt to stop the declaration of joe biden as president of the united states were just there for their own amusement, thinking that it was a lark to interrupt the ceremonial counting of the vote by the congress. others had more sinister motives. they believed that they were stopping the theft of the election from trump and intended to force the members of congress to declare trump the winner of the election and perhaps to execute some or all of our senators and representatives. those of us who had turned on our televisions to observe the proceedings of the house and senate watched in horror as this mob forced its way into the capitol, breaking windows, walking around the historic building, vandalizing the chambers of the senate and the offices of members of the congress and their staff.
this is the price of the extremism fomented by trump and his cronies in government. trump's radical right-wing true believers were emboldened to threaten our national legislators and the building in which they meet. when we listen to what some of them proclaim as fact, we are amazed that any sane person could hold such ideologies. some thought that satanists engaged in pedophilia and human trafficking were secretly at work within the government and other seats of power and that trump was working with an anonymous person in the government known only as "q" to bring an end to this nefarious activity. some were white nationalists. others were ultra-conservatives who believed that the power of the federal government had to be reigned in at any cost. still others were anarchists who wanted to destroy the national government and vest all power in local authorities, while others thought that trump was more important than the constitution and the laws which flow from it. all of these saw trump as their leader and defender and were willing to do whatever was necessary to keep him in power. they believed his lies that there was massive fraud in the election and that the election had been stolen from him.
trump encouraged their twisted political viewpoints and egged them on with his rhetoric over the past several months culminating in the rally he led before the invasion of the capitol. we are told he watched the mob's actions with delight from the white house, while calling members of congress in their hiding places to encourage them to "stop the steal" of the election. he uttered a lukewarm plea for his followers to leave peacefully, while repeating his lies about the election and telling them what fine people they were and that he loved them. later in the day, he came out with a taped statement condemning the violence and finally admitting publicly that joe biden would become the next president, a statement we are told he regretted having made only a few hours after it was released to the public. this last statement confounded his followers. some them condemned him for betraying them while others saw coded messages in the statement that the fight was not over.
this is an example of what happens when political balance is lost. extremists try to take over. the views of others are ignored and ridiculed. lies replace truth, and our lives are turned topsy-turvy. somewhere in the middle of the views of the far right and the far left lies the middle ground that allows us to have perspective on the best direction. buddhism speaks of the middle way or middle path which runs between the extremes of self-deprivation and self-indulgence. finding balance is the key to finding this middle path, and this is true for individuals and for a society. the followers of donald trump have strayed far from the middle path to their detriment and that of the nation.
may we find our way back to the middle path. may we see that truth lies between extremes. may we let go of anger, bitterness, and victimhood. may we try to place ourselves in one another's shoes and see that together we can solve our problems, realizing that no single person has the answers. instead, we must work them out together. shalom.
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