What do you remember about January 6, 2021?

Good morning, my friends.  Tomorrow marks one year since the insurrection at the United States Capitol on the day when the results of the 2020 presidential election were scheduled for certification by Congress.  The media is marking the occasion with multiple remembrances of that date's events, and there will be an observance of the date at the Capitol itself. 

But as this date approached, I began to think a little about what I was doing that day and my reaction to what was happening.

First, it's important to remember that this was at what we thought was the height of the coronavirus pandemic.  Cases continued to mount all over the country, the vaccines had been developed and approved for emergency use but were not yet available to everyone.  I believe at that time they were available to healthcare workers and nursing home residents.  So I was still in lockdown mode, working exclusively from my home office and maintaining virtual contact with my colleagues and accounts.  It would be about three more months until my wife and I would have direct in-person contact with family or friends.

But work went on, and my employer had supplied us with nice logoed water bottles to provide to clients as a thank you gift.  But we had to ship the majority of them, so on that day I was headed to one of the quick ship chain stores to send out my boxed and labelled items.  There were quite a few of them, and the store was asking people to limit capacity, so I went and sat in my car for a while to give them a chance to weigh and label these items.

Before I stepped out of the store I began getting news alerts on my phone that something was happening at the Capitol.  The alerts were cryptic at best, indicating protestors and clashes with Capitol police.  I assumed we were talking about ten or twenty protestors.  I got into the car and turned on the radio to a news station and was stunned by what was being reported, with hundreds of people forcing their way into the Capitol.  Then my wife called, as she was watching what I was only listening to and she said that it was simply unbelievable that this was happening.

I concluded my business at this store and returned home and was horrified by the scene.  By all accounts, no one could quite determine why reinforcements to the Capitol police weren't quicker in coming from District of Columbia police and the National Guard, which was apparently ready for this date but could not deploy without a specific order from the Department of Defense.

Flags....screaming.....hand-to-hand fighting.....groups of people, many carrying flags or wearing items supporting then-President Trump, moving through the Capitol, entering the Senate and House chambers....quick images of groups of what were either members of Congress or staffers to those members moving quickly through the halls with police escorts....on and on and on....

The commentators on the network I was watching were literally at a loss for words, and the guests they brought in by remote connection were equally flummoxed by the scene and events unfolding.

When order was finally restored several hours later, the news stations then began reporting that Congress was planning to resume the official process of certifying the election results, but isolated groups of Congressmen and Senators chose to challenge the results in two states, requiring separation of the joint session of Congress and debate and voting.  The results were eventually certified but I don't think it's a stretch to say that nothing has been the same since.

Over the next several days more and more video and audio emerged from the Capitol camera systems, from social media (unbelievably, numerous protestors chose to record their activities and post them to Instagram and Twitter, providing more evidence of who did what) and other sources.  And it was sickening.

Capitol Hill became something like an armed camp, with fences installed to protect the perimeter and those working inside.  The city of Washington, DC was also fortified, particularly near the Capitol.  The public received assurances that the inauguration of the new President would take place as scheduled on January 20.

Since then, many of those who stormed the Capitol have been arrested, many have been tried and convicted and numerous protestors are already serving prison sentences.

The House of Representatives convened a select committee to investigate what happened, why it happened and who was responsible.  Only a small amount of their work has been made public so far.

That's how I remember it.  It still bothers me to this day, that something like this could happen in the United States of America, which was for so long an example to the rest of the world by its regularly scheduled and orderly transfer of power from one leader to another.