In 2020, with all of us sitting at home during the Pandemic, I had ample time to sit in front of the screens and watch CSPAN-ish activity as events unfolded as well as every news feed and social media take on the same.

It was the first time in a long, long time that I listened to a politics. Several years before, I stopped. I shut it all down. I had enough trouble under my own roof; getting concerned or outraged or swept away by anything someone on TV had to say was a distraction at best – really, a luxury I didn’t have. After that, it was just a matter of habit: There’s enough going on under my own roof, in my own neighborhood, and so forth, to listen to anything else. Frankly, it was some of the most peaceful times of my life.

As attention shifted back to the antics of politicians on the floor, I remembered what it was to be a soldier in the Army, a federal employee, and a contractor working federal contracts. Over time in each role, the “direct order” was no longer sufficent – “commander’s intent” and general context become important…

And I wondered: What do you suppose the Capitol Police are thinking as they watch the chamber doors while the rhetoric and antics are playing out at the podium behind them?

Extend the question to any situation, then ask yourself: How much of society’s day-to-day operations rely upon some type of belief to rationalize one’s own participation in what is unfolding? And what happens when those beliefs come into question?

How much do we let happen? What do we tolerate, and why? Honor? Duty? An oath? Fear of reprisal or losing your job? A belief that you don’t make a difference? A belief that it’s someone else’s job to do?

You have to imagine that, whatever trajectory we’re on as a society, there’s the momentum of the past plus the sum of each and every one of us in equilibrium. How many would have to “wake up” to create a change?