It doesn't have to be like this

 Hi friends, Andy Moore here with Let's Fix this. Um, like many of you, I've been sitting in front of my computer on my phone for the last several days, um, reading news about political violence in America again. Um, on Wednesday when Charlie Kirk was murdered. I was in Washington DC um, in a meeting, uh, of organizations, uh, organizational leaders from, uh, cross partisan networks who work on everything from electoral reform to, uh, bridge building to university presidents, to um, uh, young legislators, state and congressional legislators across the country.

There were. A wide range of folks politically in the room. Uh, and when text messages started pinging people's phones about the violence that had erupted in Utah, um, one woman was, um, moved to tears because her children attend a university that is, I guess, adjacent to UVU where the shooting occurred. And it hasn't happened often in my life that.

I've that I've been directly impacted by violence like this, and it probably hasn't happened to most of us. Even still, when you are faced with someone else who feels like they or their loved ones or immediately threatened, it's scarring even that way. Uh, and I'm sure like many of you, I've somewhat struggled looking for.

The leaders, the voices, right, the comfort that our country needs in times of hurt, um, in times of fear and anxiety. And we've certainly been living in those times for a long time now, I would say even for me, the past. Nine months or so of this year, of 2025 have been some of the most existentially, stressful and draining that I can remember.

Um, you know, I will admit that there were aspects of Trump's first term that were deeply concerning to me, and then certainly living through the COVID-19 pandemic, um, and losing my mother, um, to it were deeply, deeply difficult. Um. I think I keep hoping every day, right, that the dam will break, that something will give that a fundamental shift in the direction our country is headed will happen and it'll feel immediately relieving and it hasn't happened yet.

Um, the last few days, you know, I've been looking for, I don't know, Mr. Rogers, someone, someone to offer a comforting word. And in fact, I saw a headline the other day, um, about maybe just this morning, I think in on Politico actually, that said, Charlie Kirk's death exposes an absence of a leader to Calm America.

And the headline alone hit me like. A gut punch and also like an affirming hand on my shoulder, I guess, right? That this is, that I'm probably not alone in feeling like we're looking for something. I don't know if things will change after this, but I do think it is important for us to pause, if only briefly, to reflect on.

Where we are right now and how we might move forward as a country, as a state, as a local community. I'm recording this on Fridays Eptember 12th. We've already released, uh, a podcast for this week, but I felt responsible, I guess, in some way to share a good word or what I hope is a good word. In just a few hours, we will convene nearby at Skydance Brewing for our monthly democracy drinks happy hour like we do every month.

I look forward to seeing old friends and new. Um, I look forward to finding or forcing a laugh at something, and I hope there's hugs, honestly. If you're, if you happen to listen to this before you come, I'm probably gonna hug you, or I am welcome to hug you. Uh, I am open to it. If you are, it's okay if you're not, but like sometimes, like nothing else feels quite right, like the warm embrace of someone that you know cares.

And so even if you aren't there or you listen to this afterwards, I hope that in some way this audio or this video, if you're watching, is a bit of that. I, I do wanna read some words from two other people that I consider influential in our world. Um, there don't get it. Write all the time, but I thought what they had to say was helpful.

Um, the first is from the, um,...