Understanding Dan on the Inauguration Day

Vahe H. Apelan 

January 6, 2021, will be a day  that will also go down in infamy in the American history. An unruly crowd sacked the United States Capitol in Washington D.C. Our younger son’s friend posted the following on his Facebook page in the evening. “I’ve kept my feelings about politics off of social media pretty much this whole time. But I’m pretty tired of seeing all the Biden supporters blasting Trump supporters all day. If you even remotely compare what’s going on at the capitol right now to any of the riots in 2020 please unfriend me, we’re not the same. The true American patriots have had enough.” 

I knew Dan from his early youth as our younger son David’s friend. Many a time I escorted both of them to one of their favorite pastimes, fishing in the lakes of Ohio, especially the two “pay lakes” not very far from where we lived. These are private lakes and the management of these “pay lakes” stocked seasonal fish in the lakes with regularity. What made the handsome young boy I knew, our son David’s good friend, to be so emotionally charged not only not to condemn those who sacked the U.S. Capitol building and disrupted the ongoing congressional session but associate with them as a true American patriot? 

Dan gave way to his heart’s calling early on and got married to his sweat heart very early on and interrupted his education to tend to the family he formed. He remains a doting father. It is not hard for me to envision that Dan does indeed have grounds to have harbored such feelings, seeing the intolerance  and the lack of empathy he sees around by those who were elected to assume the responsibility of addressing the ever changing challenges the society faces and prepare the upcoming generation come to grips with the fast changing world and be better prepared coping with them; for life, in the words of Kahlil Gibran, “..goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.”

Yesterday, another friend also posted on his Facebook the following, which falsely characterized Dan who appeared to be sympathetic to the Washington D.C. rioters on that day. My friend wrote: “In 2016 presidential election period Sen. Hillary Clinton called them, these Trump followers “Bunch of deplorable people”. She was right then and she is right today, as today’s events at the Capital, proved it to be.” I have to admit what he said reflects the prevailing mood of heightened polarization but remains far short from understanding our son's good friend Dan, let alone attempting to addressing the woes lurking below.

I want to clarify that I too do not condone at all what transpired  in Washington, our capital city on the Armenian Christmas Day. The symbols of its institutions were violated in a way they were not before. Surely these rioters brought the Republic on the verge of collapse. With all its faults, and as Winston Churchill is attributed to have said that democracy is the worst form of governance but there is no better. But were the rioters aiming disruption for its own sake or were they misguided in airing the grievance’s they harbor the way they did? 

But what the grievances lurking below?

Let us take a look at our everyday life nowadays. In the grocery stores not only we pay for what we purchased but also bag what we purchased while a mechanical device continues sweeping the floor of the store. There was a time when employees did those for us. The same is true when we purchase gas from a gas station. And when I go to a medical appointment there are no more attendants who welcome me to the parking lot but there is a machine that spits a card for me which I then have to take to a kiosk, pay the machine, validate the card as paid and insert it at the exit station to have the gate open for me on my way out. Even McDonalds is on the verge of machination by replacing its legendary service with a simile behind the counter the patrons got with a kiosk. Even many jobs that were dependent on high skilled employees are being replaced on a large scale, such as vital medical tests. Machines do the testing nowadays.

While mechanization is taking over and causing havoc to the work force, the regulations are relentlessly rewarding companies that modernize their machinery and make production more efficient at the cost of employing Dan and many of his generations. And if they happen to find a job, the hours of their jobs are so tailored that legally it does not constitute a “full time” employment, a term long antiquated now, to qualify them for some medical benefits..

I do not have answers to counter the few examples I cited. Surely the issues are far more and far deeper than the simple examples I cited. Something needs to be done, especially towards the small businesses that are bread and butter of many and support many by employing them.  Laws and regulations need to be in place to also assist young people to keep up pace with emerging technologies and train them. Companies must not only be rewarded only for their mechanization but also for the number of employees on the company’s payroll. It may also be time to institute military service. If Elvis Presley at the height of his career was forced to serve the army and Cassius Clay forfeited his titles because he did not serve, I see no reason not to institute compulsory military service to get the young generation know and deal with each other.

 In fact, President Trump brought to the surface fissures in our governance and in regulations that  are meant to govern the better functioning of the society at large, but apparently do not. Although he did not constructively capitalize on these issues and on such shortcomings that need to be addressed. The rioters should be held accountable for the havoc, disruption and destruction they caused, but their deeper grievances must also be understood and addressed. Otherwise, President elect Joe Biden Jr. and his administration may fail and end up compounding the issues that will remain lurking below the surface and destabilizing the country further.