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A Tale of Two Twenty-Two-Year-Old Sisters
A Tale of Two Twenty-Two-Year-Old Sisters: One Black, One White — One Wrong One Right.
The choices that we make every day will either make us or break us. On January 06, 2021, twenty-two-year-old Riley June Williams joined hundreds of insurrectionists, on the Capitol, in an attempt to overthrow the government of the United States of America. On January 20, 2021, twenty-two-year-old Amanda Gorman joined dozens of Biden’s supporters on the Capitol to defend American democracy. Riley Williams Video Riley June W Video 2
On January 21, 2021, Riley June Williams woke up in a jail cell to scorn and ridicule. Later that day, a U.S. Fed Judge released Riley into the protective custody of her mother. On January 21, 2021, Amanda Gorman woke up in a democratic society to praise and adoration as she embraced her freedom.
Amanda Gorman and Riley Williams birthed the results of their circumstances from the choices that they made. Ms. Gorman’s poem (The Hill We Must Climb), which she delivered with grace and near decisiveness, reminds us that “There’s always light if only we are brave enough to see it if only we are brave enough to be it.” Being American is more than a pride we inherit; it is the path we step into and how we repair it,” exclaimed Gorman at the end of her Inaugural recitation.
On Thursday, January 21, Riley June Williams was in court to face charges. U.S. Magistrate Judge Martin Carlson directed that Ms. Williams of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, be released to her mother. “Williams surrendered to face charges on Monday and will be on electronic monitoring while she awaits trial.”
Attorney Lori Ulrich apologized to Judge Carlson on behalf of her client. “It is regrettable that Ms. Williams took the president’s bait and went inside the Capitol,” Ms. Ulrich told the judge. Riley June W Video 2
Riley June Williams Readying For The Storming
Amanda Gorman Readying For The World
But for the grace of God, grit, a sense of rightness and determination there goes Ms. Gorman holding a long gun in her hand, a head filled with hate, folly and caught up in a web of lies. Instead Amanda Gorman made a choice to strive for success while Riley Williams made a decision to help tear down and destroy America. Of the approximately eight million 22-year-old men and women living in the USA most are productive, albeit they possess a spirit of a rebel with out a cause.
The sad truth is they do not go around trying to disrupt the world in a negative way — they are more likely to strive for positive outcomes in life.
The Hill We Climb By Amanda Gorman:
When day comes we ask ourselves,
where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry,
a sea we must wade
We’ve braved the belly of the beast
We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace
And the norms and notions
of what just is
Isn’t always just-ice
And yet the dawn is ours
before we knew it
Somehow we do it
Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn’t broken
but simply unfinished
We the successors of a country and a time
Where a skinny Black girl
descended from slaves and raised by a single mother
can dream of becoming president
only to find herself reciting for one
And yes we are far from polished
far from pristine
but that doesn’t mean we are
striving to form a union that is perfect
We are striving to forge a union with purpose
To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and
conditions of man
And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us
but what stands before us
We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,
we must first put our differences aside
We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another
We seek harm to none and harmony for all
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew
That even as we hurt, we hoped
That even as we tired, we tried
That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious
Not because we will never again know defeat
but because we will never again sow division
Scripture tells us to envision
that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree
And no one shall make them afraid
If we’re to live up to our own time
Then victory won’t lie in the blade
But in all the bridges we’ve made
That is the promised glade
The hill we climb
If only we dare
It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit,
it’s the past we step into
and how we repair it
We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation
rather than share it
Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy
And this effort very nearly succeeded
But while democracy can be periodically delayed
it can never be permanently defeated
In this truth
in this faith we trust
For while we have our eyes on the future
history has its eyes on us
This is the era of just redemption
We feared at its inception
We did not feel prepared to be the heirs
of such a terrifying hour
but within it we found the power
to author a new chapter
To offer hope and laughter to ourselves
So while once we asked,
how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?
Now we assert
How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?
We will not march back to what was
but move to what shall be
A country that is bruised but whole,
benevolent but bold,
fierce and free
We will not be turned around
or interrupted by intimidation
because we know our inaction and inertia
will be the inheritance of the next generation
Our blunders become their burdens
But one thing is certain:
If we merge mercy with might,
and might with right,
then love becomes our legacy
and change our children’s birthright
So let us leave behind a country
better than the one we were left with
Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,
we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one
We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west,
we will rise from the windswept northeast
where our forefathers first realized revolution
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states,
we will rise from the sunbaked south
We will rebuild, reconcile and recover
and every known nook of our nation and
every corner called our country,
our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,
battered and beautiful
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid
The new dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it
If only we’re brave enough to be it
Clinton Franklin is a formally trained Computer Scientist and a writer at heart. Clinton is an avid observer of nature and a lover of people and diverse cultures. He adheres to the adage, “Think globally, but act locally.”
It is crucial to be forward-thinking but not a forward person. “Be kind to everyone you meet because each carries his heavy burden…” Plato.
Embrace the three Constants: Change, Justice, and Rightness.
The thought police are busy at work trying to suppress free speech — if allowed their march to madness — they will arrest your very thoughts.
