By: McKenzie Kemper, Freelance Community Journalist

It feels a little bit like we are on a horrific merry- go- round- the murders in Atlanta, the arrests at the homeless encampment in North Minneapolis, the progression of the Chauvin trial and tensions around it, tensions around persons trying to cross the border from Mexico, the hospital deaths and riots in Jordan, and the spinning continues. 

After President Biden was elected it felt like we had a moment to catch our breath, a moment of relief and peace and then the vicious ride began again. 

Maybe I spent a lifetime with my head buried in the sand, willfully ignorant to the atrocities around us or maybe since there weren’t as many 24/7 news networks as there are now so we did not have access to the information of every atrocity occurring around the world, all the time. 

The interconnectedness of our country, and our world is a good thing. I think we need to be aware of what is going on so that we can do the work to change it. 

We, as a country, are fractured. We were built on a broken foundation with lofty ideals created by people who could not even live up to the ideals they spouted and undoing everything built into that is going to take a LOT of hard work. 

It’s also going to take more Civic Engagement that ever before. It’s going to take a leap of faith to be elected in community elections where your voice can impact the place you live. 

We all have opinions, some more than others (yeah, I’m calling myself out) and it is my belief that people deserve to make their voices heard even if I do not understand or agree with their beliefs. The greatest progress we can make is by getting involved, not just voting. 

Maybe our platform and bills won’t always make it through, but maybe a bill you wrote will change a problem you witness in your community. The only way you can possibly know is to put your proverbial hat in the ring and do the work to get potentially get elected. 

And if public service does not strike you as something you would want to do, then do the research on candidates in local elections, State, and Federal elections. Attend rallies, look at Candidate websites, and make your vote count when the time comes to go to the ballot box. 

We have the power to change this merry-go-round, and I believe we are the voices that can make it happen.