The Tasseography
I don’t know if this is a byproduct of advancing years, but the older a get the less things are surprising me anymore. After having recently run the gauntlet on a business trip to Montréal – one of the world’s finest cities and hidden gem – I still feel part of my head swirling. After spending slightly more than forty hours as part of a business trip it doesn’t feel like I was even there. It is always one of my favorite trips of the year, but it is always over very quickly. Arrive on Friday evening and leaving by Sunday morning, and it is equally difficult to believe that more than a week has passed since I was even there. From the time I left for Montréal to this moment there has been an assassination attempt on a former POTUS, and the current has announced he will rescind his campaign and not seek a second term – the first since LBJ in 1968, and none of it actually surprises me anymore. Perhaps I’ve become desensitized?
This is not a political post per se. I have always affirmed that political posts are as prevalent as underwear – everyone has them, and they are generally soiled. It is my desire for this post to be about reading the road signs. That being said I don’t really care what end of the left or right spectrum anyone is currently residing, but I do want to take an opportunity to put up a post stating the obvious. There has been a rash of political pundits recently pontificating of how the election process has gotten to this point now that Biden has formally announced he’s dropping out of the race. Some have seemed surprised, and it reminded me of a quote by Archie Bunker when Edith remarked she couldn’t believe they had reached their destination, “Being as here is where we was headed, Edith, I don’t see no miracle.” That’s pretty much how I feel regarding politics in general. It has been a long road that, generally speaking, we’ve been traveling for some time, and this outcome had been inevitable. Which is something I recently shared with a friend.
Long before Biden’s debate performance that had started a cavalcade of political talk shows down a road of endless debate of should or shouldn’t he stay in the race I had stated to a friend that he would, eventually, have to bow out of the race. “Something is going to happen.” I said. “It’ll be something that isn’t on anyone’s bingo card, but oftentimes the strangest things happen. For Trump it was an assassination attempt. For Biden it was the debate coupled with a COVID diagnosis. I am not Nostradamus; nor do I profess psychic powers. If I had I would put the talent to work on Powerball numbers. The bottom line is that none of the events of the last week plus surprises me because, as Archie had said, “Here is where we was headed.” Call it a crescendo of events, and the orchestra has only just begun playing.
We are still far from the election. Many things are going to happen that we cannot possibly imagine. However, the pragmatist in me says the universe has a way of balancing itself out especially when it tips too far in one or another direction. I expect more things to happen that are, again, not on anyone’s radar. They can’t be because there’s always the law of unintended consequences that pitch back a spinning top. Call it a built in universal safeguard. Such things I believe do exist. The important aspect is to sit and watch for the right signs. These are where the course corrections take place, and it’s important to know them. Whether they be in the political arena or our personal lives. Every decision has an outcome, and that makes it all the more important to read the tea leaves closely before rendering.