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Just This One
I wasn't going to say anything about the election, but I feel the need to put something above Tuesday's then-humorous post.
So, a few calming reflections.
- We can probably trust to bureaucratic inertia to scotch the more wacked-out ideas. Recreating the Great Wall of China is not really feasible for a country that can't even keep its existing roads and bridges properly paved, for example.
- Regardless of who won, I still would have been at the mechanic's yesterday getting the car seen to. Regardless of who won, I still would have needed to clean the toilet. And the cats would still be cute. Whose butt is in the Oval Office does not really affect most people's day-to-day lives.
- We don't actually know what the election-winner's going to do. We know what he thought would get him publicity (and he was right). Those may not be the same thing; we're talking about a reality TV show star here, remember. I'm not suggesting he's some kind of undercover saint, but let's see what actually happens before cranking up the hysteria, eh?
- This too shall pass. Although I am somewhat a subscriber to the Great (or Awful) Man theory of history, the truth is that one person generally can't shift the destiny of an entire country. Eight years ago, there were plenty of people proclaiming the end of the world, but the world's still here. I suspect it'll still be here four years from now, too.
- Finally, we can't control what the guy in the White House does. We can control what we do. This was one of the most acrimonious campaigns on record, and that stems directly from the acrimonious, sound-bite-driven, over-reaction-as-a-tool-of-silencing society we now live in. But we don't have to. If you're talking to someone you disagree with and your immediate response is to take what they say to the most egregious extreme and then vilify them for it, you're part of the problem. If you immediately assume anyone not jumping on your bandwagon is on the other side and attack them for it, you're part of the problem. But if you read or listen to what they're actually saying, and take the time to engage with it with civility and the assumption of good faith, you might just be part of the solution.
So, a few calming reflections.
- We can probably trust to bureaucratic inertia to scotch the more wacked-out ideas. Recreating the Great Wall of China is not really feasible for a country that can't even keep its existing roads and bridges properly paved, for example.
- Regardless of who won, I still would have been at the mechanic's yesterday getting the car seen to. Regardless of who won, I still would have needed to clean the toilet. And the cats would still be cute. Whose butt is in the Oval Office does not really affect most people's day-to-day lives.
- We don't actually know what the election-winner's going to do. We know what he thought would get him publicity (and he was right). Those may not be the same thing; we're talking about a reality TV show star here, remember. I'm not suggesting he's some kind of undercover saint, but let's see what actually happens before cranking up the hysteria, eh?
- This too shall pass. Although I am somewhat a subscriber to the Great (or Awful) Man theory of history, the truth is that one person generally can't shift the destiny of an entire country. Eight years ago, there were plenty of people proclaiming the end of the world, but the world's still here. I suspect it'll still be here four years from now, too.
- Finally, we can't control what the guy in the White House does. We can control what we do. This was one of the most acrimonious campaigns on record, and that stems directly from the acrimonious, sound-bite-driven, over-reaction-as-a-tool-of-silencing society we now live in. But we don't have to. If you're talking to someone you disagree with and your immediate response is to take what they say to the most egregious extreme and then vilify them for it, you're part of the problem. If you immediately assume anyone not jumping on your bandwagon is on the other side and attack them for it, you're part of the problem. But if you read or listen to what they're actually saying, and take the time to engage with it with civility and the assumption of good faith, you might just be part of the solution.