LTE: A plea for more unity and empathy

Many of us watched in disbelief at the riot that took place at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Loss of life, loss of property, and a shrinking sense of hope for a peaceful transfer of power to a new administration.

At the rally, President Trump encouraged the crowd to “fight” numerous times, and the crowd chanted, “Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump!...”

Later he strongly condemned the actions of those he encouraged!

The whole fiasco could have been quashed — even at the rally — with a simple concession of his losing the election!

Remember the 2000 election when Bush won 26 electoral votes in Florida by 537 votes when the Supreme Court stopped the recount? There was no violent “stop the steal” effort then!

Trump’s own Homeland Security officials and William Barr declared there was no widespread fraud in the election. Now the damage has been done and confidence in security at our Capitol where “the People’s Business” is conducted, badly tarnished. (The last attack on the Capitol was in 1814 when the British burned federal buildings, including the Capitol building.)

The recent attack is an unfortunate event that I pray doesn’t ever happen again.

Here in Mineral County, our citizens have a wide range of beliefs, but I feel our values continue to reflect the good nature of honest people. We are the kind of people who stop to help our neighbors, even when we have disagreements with them.

Let’s resolve to build more unity and empathy in our lives, and promote less division and sectarianism throughout the country.

Liz Gupton, Alberton