Quick! Before another crazy thing happens, let’s take stock. On Jan. 1, we thought we could stride across the threshold into 2021 and leave behind the horrible distress of 2020.

   But no; we looked over our shoulders to see it slinking through the doorway, licking its chops, planning weeks of chaos and assault, including the crescendo of lies from Donald J. Trump and his enablers, literal insurrection at the Capitol, a second impeachment, and mounting COVID-19 deaths.

The moving memorial at the reflecting pool on Jan. 20, simple, short and powerful, began a sorely needed process of facing the truth of this moment: phenomenal loss in human lives, social connection, economic stability and environmental security.

That night Northfield Unitarian church tolled its bells for a full half hour, to mourn aloud the loss of over 400,000 people. Candles expressed our thanks to the front line workers. Our local EMT crew on duty that night joined us; as we listened, the enormity of the loss brought tears and an opening of hearts. We have been hunkered down so long, it is difficult to absorb the reality.

We face equally stunning truths about our democracy. On Jan. 6, a day that will reverberate like 9/11 through history, a sitting but defeated president urged his followers to disrupt the legal process to seal Joe Biden’s win of the country’s highest office.

We watched armed insurrectionists, seeking to overturn our democracy with weapons and hatred, swarm over the front walls and steps, smashing and crashing their way into the House and Senate. We watched late into the night as the members of Congress managed to reconvene and complete their task overcoming the continuing false objections of a large number of Republicans.

One week later we watched as the House completed a second impeachment, with the largest bipartisan margin in history. That weekend Northfield Area Progressives held a long-planned Zoom meeting with our key elected officials — our state rep., our state senator, and Congressman Jim McGovern.

The Recorder did a great write-up of that meeting but here a few things that were not included. First of all we never expected Jim to be able to make the call — not after the preceding 10 days he had experienced. He was the person to whom Nancy Pelosi handed the gavel of the House as she was rushed out of reach of the mob. He was one of the last people to leave the House floor. A week later, as the chair of the House Rules Committee, he was the person who brought the article of impeachment before his fellow representatives. Yet there he was, full of detailed information and ideas about how to tackle the environmental issues that were on our agenda.

And our state Rep. Paul Mark, with his usual irrepressible humor, contributed while sitting in the dark in his car, because he is from Peru, a Massachusetts town without internet service. Jo Comerford, our state senator, sparkled with her grasp of the issues and her spirited plans to take on the needs we reviewed. There we were with our elected officials working together on interrelated local, state and federal approaches to solving these huge problems we face.

Just days after that we watched with hope and trepidation as the inauguration went ahead, outdoors, limited by COVID precautions, but complete in its message of transition in all senses of the word: toward truth, toward action, toward community, toward the priorities necessary to restore the health of our people, our economy, our climate and global stability. The wonderful diversity of the faces, the precision of the protocols, the music and messages filled the moment.

So now what? Our representatives asked for help.

First, keep the ideas for programs and strategies coming. They are all on crucial committees to create new laws.

Second, keep the pressure on. As my husband says, now is the time to become the Insistence rather than the resistance. When they do well, our elected officials need to hear from us to bolster their cases. If we have family or friends in other states, Jim asked us to keep reminding them to speak up for urgent bills like HR 1, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, or President Biden’s crucial COVID Relief Act. It will take all of us to get the new cabinet approved and legislation passed.

This is the moment. Quick! Let’s roll up our sleeves and launch a new era for our community, our country and the planet.

Judy Wagner is a resident of Northfield.