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andykimforcongress.com
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Fri, Jan 6, 2023 07:34 PM
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{NAME}, The first time I got home after Jan 6, my then-5 year old son hugged me and asked "Dada, are
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{NAME}, The first time I got home after Jan 6, my then-5 year old son hugged me and asked "Dada, are you ok?" "Why do you ask?" "Did something happen at your work?" I didn't know what to say and never followed up. Two years later, I think I'm ready to talk to him. Here's what I plan to say. I took him home that night and read Thomas the Tank Engine books, as if all was normal. I kept wondering how he found out. My wife didn't say anything. I'm guessing his teacher or classmates must have. It hurt my heart to think of the terrible example our broken politics sets for our kids. It's sad to imagine 5 year olds discussing the horrible actions of adults. What are they saying? What lessons are they learning? But still I struggled to find words to talk to him about what I saw and what happened on Jan 6. How do I tell my child who learned to scooter rolling down the west hill of the Capitol about people who call themselves patriots that defiled a sacred temple of our democracy? That some colleagues of their father meant to be leaders of this nation instead incited the riot. How do you tell a child about threats against a Vice President, Speaker, and Members/Senators? That someone planted bombs aiming to assassinate leaders and they still walk among us. That Americans were fighting other Americans in the halls of the United States Capitol. I won't go into all the details with my boys, especially as they are still so little, but I want them to know this isn't normal. They only know a politics of hatred and chaos. It's all they've seen. I worry tremendously that kids will grow up thinking this is just how things are. I fear we are becoming a nation addicted to anger. My heart hurts for a generation of children raised in a pandemic and surrounded by political vitriol. I cannot perfectly shelter my boys from turbulent times, nor can I just assume they draw the right lessons on their own. Since Jan 6, I've made it my life's work now to try and solve one singular question: how do we heal this country? I still believe it's possible, but not guaranteed. Our problems run deep. We live in the time of greatest amount of distrust in government in our nation's history. But how do we attempt to restore trust in our nation? After Jan 6, I started thinking of this one town hall I did in a deep conservative part of my district. While it was challenging I took questions for three hours and afterwards there was a line of people waiting to talk to me. There was an older man who came up to me. He said "I just want you to know that I didn't vote for you. And frankly I was very hesitant to come today." He paused and I didn't know what he was going to say next. "But I'm glad I did," he said as he shook my hand and walked off. I think about that moment a lot. I don't think I earned his vote or trust just from one encounter, but I think I earned his respect. And that's when it hit me. You can't gain trust unless you have respect. You won't trust someone if you don't respect them. Respect is key. As I talk to my boys about Jan 6, I will teach my boys to respect the Capitol. To recognize it's more than just a structure. It is the physical manifestation of Article 1 of our Constitution. To defile and disrespect the Capitol is to defile and disrespect our Constitution. I will teach my boys that our respect must also extend beyond our institutions and include the people around us. We are struggling from a crisis of empathy as a nation. It's why so many Americans are willing to call each other the enemy. Empathy must flow in all directions. I will teach my boys that the opposite of democracy is apathy. It's easy to give into helplessness, or the feeling that our system is too broken to be fixed. Resilience can never be taken for granted. One must have respect for the difficulty of the task at hand and our duty as citizens. I will teach my boys about the heroes who refused to run away and instead gave themselves to help others. They are the best of us. It is their story and example that I hope is the most lasting memory of Jan 6. It is their service that makes me most hopeful for America. I don't have all the answers on how to best talk about Jan 6 and this chaotic moment we live in, but I do know that as a father I can't keep ignoring it with my boys. Kids are perceptive and they soak in far more than we understand. I worry I don't do enough to guide them. I will do my best to teach them to love this building as much as I do. I hope my boys and kids around our country will grow up to respect our democracy, respect each other, and respect what it takes to be caretakers of a democracy that is simultaneously powerful and fragile. Andy Paid for by Andy Kim for Congress. This email was sent by [Andy Kim](
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