Some historical moments are fulcrums on which all else seems to tilt. We’re often conscious of their significance only afterward, which may be preferable. Foreknowledge brings expectation, and expectation easily disappoints.
Take today’s ceremonial drama on the west front of the U.S. Capitol. It surely must stagger under the weight of expectation. Not the event itself, but the tipping point it seems to represent, onto which Americans have loaded anticipation – of deliverance or ruin.
For those seeing deliverance, today is their highest high. Victory’s endorphins will fade. The slog will resume, and disappointments will follow, probably within days.
We’ll get no candy-cane forests.
For those anticipating ruin, today is their lowest low. Defeat’s malaise will slide into interruption and delay, probably within minutes – tactics that, even with modest results, will reek less than the stench of defeat.
We’ll see no zombie apocalypse.
Today’s moment, whether framed as victory or defeat, is not time itself. It guarantees nothing except that history never unfolds exactly as we wish.
Better to expect disappointments. And, thus grounded, to get to work, facing what comes.
