Could the images of violence in the U.S. Capitol be a turning point, jarring America out of toxic hyperpolarization? More likely, they underscore the importance and urgency of the work ahead.

For our Christa Case Bryant, Wednesday was her third day on the job as the Monitor’s new congressional correspondent. Here’s how it looked through her eyes.

Home life is being reshaped due to the pandemic, as families and couples reexamine routines. For some, the confinement has led to a deepening commitment. 

Small island nations are most severely impacted by plastic litter carried in by ocean currents. One remote atoll in the Indian Ocean is becoming a rallying point for the need to do better.

Yesterday rioters entered the U.S. Capitol and disrupted the work of the country’s elected officials. They provoked fear and confusion. They looted and defaced the building. They sought to overturn the peaceful transfer of power being conducted through a lawful and democratic process laid out by the U.S. Constitution.

Unlike the crisis of 9/11, when foreign agents attacked the United States, this act was self-inflicted, undertaken by Americans against their own government. Whether the U.S. can emerge stronger from this blow will depend on how Americans now respond.

President Donald Trump has, at the least, stoked fear and anger among his followers through repeated false claims that the election was stolen from him through voter fraud. This claim has not been substantiated: In every state, elected officials, both Democrats and Republicans, have certified their results as the legitimate and honest representation of their voters. Joe Biden has won the majority of votes in the Electoral College and is the nation’s president-elect.

As has been frequently pointed out, some Americans are receiving information via social media that is simply false. It culminated in yesterday’s sad mayhem in Washington. The riot shows what can happen when the agitated politics of emotion replaces reason and thoughtful debate.

America has been shocked. How it will respond lies ahead. 

“Our civic crisis doesn’t end this week,” Sen. Ben Sasse, a Republican from Nebraska, wrote in The Wall Street Journal the day before the rioting. But, he added, “I believe there is still a silent majority of Americans that want something better. They don’t want tribal forever wars that burn down our institutions.”

Americans, and the world that has been watching aghast, can take some comfort that the U.S. government continued to function unimpeded. The work of Congress was disrupted only briefly. Elected officials of both parties expressed their determination to keep on with the people’s work.

“We will not be kept out of this chamber by thugs, mobs, or threats,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said as he returned to the floor. “We are back at our posts. We will discharge our duty under the Constitution and for our nation, and we’re going to do it tonight.” Vice President Mike Pence then properly performed his duties presiding over the Senate as outlined by the Constitution.

After the turmoil, President Trump inched closer to accepting the decision of the American people, pledging in a statement to provide an “orderly transition” to a new administration. 

Now is the time for more listening, for understanding and addressing the fears and concerns of fellow citizens. After his election victory, President-elect Biden urged Americans to stop treating each other as the enemy. “The Bible tells us that to everything there is a season – a time to build, a time to reap, a time to sow. And a time to heal,” he said. “This is the time to heal in America.”

“Blessed are the peacemakers,” advises that same Bible. Efforts across the political spectrum to calm and unite, and not spread fear and division, are badly needed.

More than a century ago, the founder of the Monitor, Mary Baker Eddy, expressed her certainty that prayer affirming the innate power of goodness and love is an effective means of protecting the American democratic experiment. Such prayer can yield results in the form of thoughtful, healing actions that will safely lead America forward.