I have always somewhat prided myself on thinking for myself and not going by what other people tell me I need to think or believe. Some events have happened in my country recently that I think I need to speak on. I also think it’s important to come at them from a different angle than most might. I don’t want to descend into the thick of things – it’s not going to help.

For those who might be reading this at some other point in time, a few days ago, the Capitol building of the United States was overrun by protesters, along with a smattering of provocateurs.

The first thing I want to say is: There are a few topics in which those who are not citizens of the US really have no business opining on. This is one of them. The odds are really high that there are undercurrents going on that you don’t understand. So if you are an outside observer, try to understand it if you want, try to read up and understand both why the protesters were so angry (and in my opinion, they have every right to be, though I will not condone the expression of that anger) and why people might think they shouldn’t be, but please refrain from offering an opinion. You don’t understand it and you’re not helping.

(While there are many aspects of Japanese culture I think are objectively terrible, I try not to involve myself with opinions on their legislative process. That’s kinda their business. So I try hard to practice what I preach.)

I say this because a certain British YouTuber almost made this mistake. After posting that he was going to post that video and giving a hint as to what his opinion was, his comment section lit up with invective. He made the right choice in deciding he wasn’t helping.

The second thing I want to say is: there is no deescalation happening, currently. There is no healing, there is no uniting. Those on the left are flexing their muscle to try to deplatform people who might express a dissenting opinion (the vast majority of folks on the right are not condoning violence, though a quite a few are), and those on the right aren’t interested in putting up with that kind of deplatforming anymore. So, for me, the proper solution is to disengage. I’m not really interested in involving myself with this this escalating battle of words, etc.

This is a troublesome time for my country. I really do not see how this can end in any good way. I live in Texas, so I don’t feel quite as exposed as I would in, say, California, or Washington, D.C., but I do feel like nothing good is going to happen. I don’t say this with a sense of happiness, but with a sense of resignation and foreboding. My anxiety is very bad at the moment, and I’m dreading the next couple of weeks, because neither side seems willing to back down.

I have come to the conclusion that Jesus was correct when he basically said the entire world was lost. It has never been clearer to me than it is now. People fighting each other for nothing, really, because the only reward you get from life is eventual death. People wanting the trappings of the Kingdom of God without the pesky God part of it, and the only way to make that happen is by force – and the minute you use force it stops being anything approaching the Kingdom of God. People who think power – political, military, etc., is worth having for its own sake, when all that leads to is suffering and misery. And even liberty is, in its own way, troublesome, because all that means is you get to screw your own life up rather than having someone screw it up for you.

If you mist stick your nose into the affairs of my country, pray for it. Because I don’t see any of this ending in any good way.

And that’s all I’ll say about that.