Just Like That, a Breath of Fresh Air Clears Out the Gloom
There is a huge sense of relief out there
Here in Western NY, we are having a typical hot muggy summer, though not as hot as a lot of the country, thank God. But I was up at six this morning, and though it was cool outside, my apartment was humid and stuffy, so I turned on the AC for a few minutes to clear out the moist air.
And in a few minutes the job was done and the AC was off, for now. And this metaphor was so obvious to me that I sat for a few minutes just thinking about the last week, a remarkable one in American politics.
Last night, in her newsletter, Letters From An American, historian Heather Cox Richardson neatly summarized how events in US politics have a history of changing like this, slowly and then all at once. It’s a good read for those of us looking over our shoulders at the Republican horde in the distance.
In my air conditioning metaphor, I reserved the idea that I will be turning to it to cool things down when they inevitably heat up again. That’s just being realistic. But I also want to just enjoy seeing a good portion of our country realizing we are not inevitably marching down a dark road to disaster.
The Kamala blast of fresh air feels real and it has unleashed a pent up need for a little joy…
