We humans, on occasion do wrong things, sometimes knowingly and purposefully and sometimes unwittingly or accidentally.
When caught doing something wrong, denial is quite often the first response. But as we get older and learn to take responsibility for our selves and our actions, we discover that honesty is a big part of what defines our character.
It's like a fork in the road - ultimately it is a personal choice. For some, the path of least resistance is to lie and cheat. For most of us, I would venture, speaking the truth and being honest is the obvious path as we learn that how we treat other people can directly affect how they treat us.
Relationships, not always, but tend to be reciprocal.
In large part, making mistakes is how we grow in intellect and in our understanding of right and wrong.
Some people never learn this lesson and will always revert to lying and cheating and thus often feel and remain disenfranchised all their lives. They fail ever to grasp that their own decisions directly affect their circumstances. They believe that when things go wrong or are not as they want them to be - that is all someone else's fault. So they are always looking for people to blame.
In their world, the laws and circumstances of life are always slanted against them. This attitude is further compounded by an entrenched refusal to listen and hear any perspective that differs from their own and would false them to adopt a different view or take responsibility for their own decisions.
So accepting responsibility for your actions is the antithesis to blame. Rightly or wrongly, this is how we define adulthood - a person of an age where they are responsible for their own actions.
Failing to take responsibility for yourself implies immaturity and lack of intellect.
It did make me chuckle seeing the recording of a protester on the sixth of January telling a journalist how great Trump is - "and that is what the 'J' in Donald J Trump stands for - Genious" he said.
There can often be ambiguity in translation and understanding - an individuals interpretation if you like.
But facts are facts. Questioning is always legitimate in seeking truth, and no one should be angered by questions, even if they appear ridiculous.
Interpretation aside - facts remain. They are indelible. They are not open to interpretation or argument - if they were, they would not be facts.
So this is all about how we view our world in which we live. But it is also in trying to understand other people's views. If they do not have the facts, then their conclusions are going to be wrong.
So imagine you have a person who has consistently refused to take responsibility for themselves or accept any truth spoken to them that does not suit their interpretation of what they believe. Imagine there is not one of these people, but you collect them from all over and amass several thousand of them in one place. Now you marry that attitude with a leader like Trump, who encourages the darkest thoughts and reinforces the belief in conspiracies that are factually utterly untrue. In other words, you have a leader who, far from speaking truth, instead reinforces the lies, conspiracies and untruths. And further, plays on their anger and whips them up into a fever of angry and violent protest.
And there you have the story of what happened on the 6th of January 2021 in the Congressional Buildings of Washington DC. The only possible explanation is Trump trying for a Coup D'etat - which thank God - failed.
But there are two prominent 'takeaways' that deserve attention from the voters of the United States.
Firstly, after the invasion of Congress and the attempted Coup by Donald Trump - there were still several congressmen and congresswomen who were publically questioning the presidential election results, thus tacitly supporting Trump and his rabble of supporters. Secondly, in the Impeachment resolution held in the House the following week, we heard Jim Jorden and many of his delusional fellow Republicans - still, despite what just happened, still defending Trump.
To me, this is shaming and pours shame on America. For Congress members to give Trump any support what-so-ever after what happened - broadcast live on the worlds TV screens, is beyond the pale. For the moral compass of so many Congressional members to be so far out of wack is genuinely frightening.
If this is really what Jim Jordan and his cohorts think, and America keeps them as their leaders, I would suggest that The United States has lost any moral high ground and lost its right to lead the Free World.
It makes light of this awful situation to talk of a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Brave people died in this attempted Coup. Trump's action was nothing less than an attempted overthrow of the Democratic Government and the United States of America's Constitution. It all played out in front of our eyes - on our TV screens. We all heard Trump, his dreadful son and his crooked lawyer - and a serving Congressman. Anyone unable to acknowledge that, is no better than a Holocaust denier. And in some countries, denying the Holocaust is illegal, in other words, failing to acknowledge the truth. It is alarming that the USA has law-makers in that position.
Rick - Suffolk - UK - 17th January 2021
www.ricknotesfromengland.com
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