The ancient Roman god Janus was the deity of gates and doors, endings and beginnings, war and peace. He is usually depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions, backward and forward. Thanks to him, our first month is called January.
This year and this month, I am particularly aware of the need to look both ways.
As the airwaves and print columns are reverberating with a look back to this time last year, or this time two years ago, I am struck by the fact that we were naïve those other years, but collectively we are only a little wiser now. Sadly, we are even more entrenched along battle lines that, to me, didn’t have to be.
Looking back one year, I remember the shock and incredulity I felt on Jan. 6, 2021. It was clear to me then that the peaceful transition of power so key to our democracy came horrifyingly close to being overturned. What I am seeing now, and what continues to distress me, is the fact is this was not just a few bad apples, acting out their disgruntlement over the outcome of the election.
This would-be coup was orchestrated from within the very halls of power, with the efforts continuing quietly or overtly to this day, on a much larger scale than I ever could have imagined. I’m not one to believe in conspiracy theories, but it’s impossible to explain away the abundant and ever-growing evidence on this point.
There’s no question that the angst I felt last year has been greatly reduced since our current president was successfully inaugurated on January 20, 2021. But I have a new appreciation for the fragility of the democratic process and the many possible ways it can be undermined. And these are not just theoretical ways to weaken the voice of the people. The John Lewis Voting Rights is being stonewalled, perhaps permanently, by one political party acting in lockstep against the majority of Americans who want access to free and fair elections.
And at the state level, in New Hampshire, as in many states controlled by one of our parties, gerrymandering is being perfected to such an extent that candidates can choose their voters instead of the other way around. A party representing a minority of voters can guarantee its continued grip on power. And a party representing a minority can mandate things as basic as what school teachers can teach their students about the truth of our past and how it affects our present. These are things I didn’t fully realize last year, but do now, and will as we move forward.
Leaving politics for a minute (or actually not), I’m also thinking back to another January, the one in 2020. (Was that only two years ago?)
How idyllic that time seems from my current perspective. How unsuspecting we were. The novel coronavirus was already starting to upend what we thought was the way things always were and always would be. But something creating havoc far away in China wouldn’t affect us, would it? Our then-president, never one to tell the truth when a lie suited him better, told us not to worry.
In the very long two years since then, much has changed in our world and our day-to-day lives, thanks to that thing we were told not to worry about. We have lost so much, especially our loved ones, now topping 2,000 in New Hampshire and 800,000 in the U.S. We now see the disproportionate burdens of the pandemic placed on people due to their race, income level or even zip code.
We now have a toolbox and an evolving understanding of this disease, even as case counts skyrocket. But the divide between the people embracing the tools in the toolbox and those digging themselves further into their trench of denial continues to grow. As those opposed to public health measures hunker down in their trenches, the virus continues to mutate among them, and not for the better.
The Romans understood the need to look forward and backward at the beginning of each year. We need to do the same. We need to remind ourselves of the past to avoid those mistakes. We need to apply the lessons of the past as we move forward. Teachers need to be given the chance to educate our students so the disparities and divides of the present don’t continue to plague us in the future. We need to recognize and call out threats to our democracy, whatever form they take. And we need to find common ground with those in denial about the threats to the health and safety of us all.
(Millie LaFontaine lives in Concord.)