My task this morning is to quiet myself following the day of chaos that was yesterday. I found myself repeatedly viewing the unreal scenes unfolding in our capital. I’m not sure why. It made me so very sad.

I tried to think of comparable events in my lifetime, and I came up short. The anti-war campus demonstrations of the 60s pale in comparison. The most seditious thing I witnessed was a college professor burning his draft card for which he was arrested and taken to jail. There were, of course, the race riots of the same period which destroyed lives and property. But they didn’t attack the foundations of the democracy that was the only means for righting the wrongs, the injustices, historically and daily perpetrated against people of color.

Of the 328 million people in the country, the handful involved in yesterday’s melee was but a raindrop falling in the ocean. Yet it is terrifying to think that so few, incited by a vengeful, corrupt bully, would have the audacity to think they were in some way protecting the institution they attempted to disrupt.

The nature of a democracy allows for dissent, and if there is sufficient cause, then changes can be made. But changes are made from within the system, not from without. Civics 101 teaches that in a democracy the voting booth is our voice, our means to change. To try to force change is seditious, treasonous, regardless of the title of the leader of the insurrection. Donald Trump is president in name only, and I trust we’ve learned from his negative example the kind of individual we must never vote for again. He is unfit to be a public servant at any level.

Servant is the key word. Our leaders serve at the will of the people. Let it be so!