A Time Of Reflection

[I haven’t posted since Christmas Eve. I’ve posted sparsely all winter. There’s a reason. I’ve got a thing I want to say. It’s too big. I probably lack the skill to say it. Forgive me as I use analogy for that which I grok but can’t articulate.]

In 2017 there was a total eclipse of the sun. A lot of people ignored it and the press tried to create from it cause for alarm, but an eclipse is nothing mysterious. It was an opportunity. A rare beautiful celestial event in a convenient(-ish) time and place. I packed up the family and went there.

One of the best decisions I ever made!

I’m a lucky guy. I’ve seen many wonderful things. I’ve deliberately witnessed nature’s glory as much as possible; mountain vistas, jagged canyons, sinuous dunes, surging ocean waves, flickering northern lights, the fluke of a humpback whale, the howl of a wolf. When God speaks, I try to listen.

None of this prepared me for the glory of a total eclipse of the sun. I peeked behind the veil and saw the universe. What good fortune to live in such an amazing world!

The totality lasted about two and a half minutes. I stood rooted in place, time stopped, the birds stopped singing, distant streetlights came on, insects stopped flying. The world hung in the balance.

The little crowd of people I was amid, hushed. When the totality began, there’d been cheering and the chatter of happy people. As it continued the bustle faded into complete awe. It was unlike anything we’d ever seen.

During this very special moment in time, a semi rolled by on the abandoned street. Its headlights were on. I think often of that trucker, alone in his cab. Driving past clusters of enraptured people watching the sky. Ignoring perhaps one of the rarest and most special moments into which his life might blunder.

Maybe his is the saddest fate I’ve ever pondered. It’s not that I don’t understand his point of view. Shortly after the eclipse, the roads predictably turned to gridlock. The zone of totality was roughly 70 miles wide. Rolling smooth and steady while every other human was staring at the sky, he probably ran a full 15 minutes unhindered. Assuming he was headed straight across the zone he might have shaved a half hour or maybe twice that off his total drive time.

So what? It’s a dismal calculation. A lifetime of driving, a career at the wheel; sparing not ever two and a half minutes to feed the spirit. No aspect of shipping can be so important. A man who won’t stop and marvel at the exact moment the veil of the sky is lifting her skit will never stop for anything. Short of passed out behind a dumpster how much more spiritually dead can you get?

Of course, his choices are nobody’s business, certainly not mine. I hope the trucker got his load delivered that much easier. I’m sure he was at peace with his decision. I know in my heart he lived a smaller, weaker, sadder, life than absolutely necessary. I also know in my heart it’s not my call.

Anyway that’s how two paths crossed in 2017. I wrote about it, telling everyone how mind shatteringly beautiful the moment had been. I wanted to share just a fraction of the thing and to encourage people to pay attention next time. Improbably, this rare event was going to have a “do-over”. It would repeat in April 2024… merely seven years later.

Of course, I was there in 2024. As before, a lot of people ignored it and the press tried to create from it some cause for alarm. As before, I witnessed a miracle. It was just as glorious and just as awe inspiring, but no subsequent eclipse will compare to my first. I wrote far less about the 2024 event. Why? Because it’s the last one for 20 years. Between now and August 12, 2045, either you were there or you weren’t.

Why am I talking about rare, beautiful, irregularly spaced, celestial events? Because miracles deserve to be recognized. Yet we’re rapidly forgetting one; even as it glows right in front of us. So very quickly we become that jaded trucker; dutifully looking at the road, immune to the wonder all around him.

We… all of us… on all sides of any political spectrum, just witnessed a rare thing. It feels embarrassing to call it a miracle, for politics is shit and we are far too cynical a people these days. Regardless, it was “a big deal”. Only a fool would discard the thing they witnessed themselves and replace it with the bullshit narrative fed to them as an alternative.

You saw it. We all did. The people insisted upon something, and succeeded. How awesome is that?

Absolutely everything was counter to the people’s preference and yet the people made their choice anyway. Nearly every bureaucracy, nearly every big corporation, nearly every facet of government, nearly every nook and cranny of “mainstream media”, every TV show, every Disney movie, every school, every university, everything everywhere demanded a certain outcome. But the people did not submit.

Free will is a very special thing. When you see it, treasure it. Be happy to have experienced it.

Forget, for the moment, various complaints, real or imagined, for or against, one particular real estate selling politically astute goofball. Just bask in the fact that the people made their will known and their will was not the choice ordered from halls of power. Society has had a rough patch lately. Even in it’s current battered, debased, dumbed down, manipulated, and degraded state, society still managed to acknowledge the people’s will.

You. Just. Saw. A. Miracle.

Admittedly, it’s not as sublime as an eclipse or a birth or a sunrise… but it bears a moment of gratitude. A silent moment to reflect on what you’ve witnessed.

It’s easy to be persuaded into submission. Evidence suggests boardrooms, think tanks, CEOs, and government flunkies control everything… but they don’t. They sure as hell didn’t control this election.

I’ve been hearing for four years “they won’t let him win”. I reject that! Despair is a sin. Despair is weakness and cowardice. Humans should not whine like a helpless herd animal. A complete human can stand up on his hind legs and pursue his own choices, even (especially) when the odds don’t look good.

“They” didn’t want a landslide, but they got one… shoved straight up “their” ass. They pulled out all the stops. Lawfare in half a dozen states. Assassin’s bullets. Lies and propaganda and weeks of counting mystery ballots in California. It’s coming out that internal polling showed Trump cruising to victory even as every media source everywhere did a song and dance about “the polls are close”. How much uncertainty and misery was sowed into millions of innocent people who didn’t deserve such treatment? And yet is was all for naught. Everything “they” did, wasn’t enough compared to what “we” did.

That’s the important part. You got to see hope realized. You got to see despair dispelled.

Even if you desperately hate the Orange Menace, you can ruefully say “the people are going to get what they wanted, good and hard”. Sometimes the people make mistakes. That’s OK, there is no free will without the risk of error.

Even if Trump fails at everything he tries (and surely a lot of people hope and pray for that very thing) he’s already done the most important thing. Trump demonstrated the will of the people mattered.

Here we are in January and it’s like society wants you to ignore that event. It was only a few months ago. You’re nudged to be that trucker. “Get this load of toasters to Wichita and nothing else matters. No peeking at the sky. Do not experience what is happening all around you. Never stop to wonder what it all means. Do not simply be happy. Do not simply be. ‘They’ control everything.”

Drones over New Jersey. A 1,500 page “continuing resolution”. Elon shot his mouth off about H1B. Everyone quickly formulated strong opinions about Greenland. One last gasp of lawfare out of New York City; “guilty of something ill defined with a penalty of nothing”. California is on fire…

All that will be “old news” in a month. Most of it doesn’t matter and never did. Most of it is a distraction.

Rather than distractions, please remember a moment you personally experienced. Savor it. Six days hence, barring another assassin, it’ll be too late to stop the truck and gaze in wonder at the pretty thing that’s happening. All will descend into mundane politics. Taxes and filibusters and parties acting like petulant children. Before that happens… make sure you got the true and full experience. Breathe it in. Keep it for the long dark times that inevitably fall into all lives.

The next eclipse might be a long time coming.