The Long Arc of History
Some of us are ecstatic about Donald Trump’s Second Coming. Some are in terror and mourning. All of us need to take a pill. In the course of human history it may be a big game changer, or it may be flatulence. In all likelihood, a century from now, it will get mentioned in second year history courses.
There are a few Big Events in the long arc of history. The Great Extinction of the dinosaurs was one. Genghis Khan’s short but horrific pillaging of half of the known world was another. Europe’s Age of Exploration, Gutenberg’s printing press, railways, telegraphs, and computers were of the same class. The Holocaust is well remembered, but the equally ghastly genocides of the Armenians (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_genocide) , those of Pol Pot (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pol_Pot) , and the Holodomor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor) have slipped from our collective memories. Hyperlinks are provided for readers with strong stomachs.
There were some other Big Events, although we might not see them as such. The birth of an infant, in an animal shed, to a frightened twelve year old far from her home would not have seemed consequential to Imperial Rome, yet millennia later we celebrate his birth, but not the Empire. And eons before that, a lightning strike on a warm sea of pre-organic matter triggered life, an actual organism capable of sustaining itself and reproducing, probably the biggest Big Event of all. We’re now much more complex, if not much more intelligent.
Whether the Donald cares much about re-election (he is, after all, scheduled to serve his second and last term), his minions do. While there’s entirely good reason to believe that the Republicans will do all they can to perpetuate their rule (an entirely human instinct), America is not the Weimar Republic, or anything near it. Could Trump become King and Emperor for Life? Certainly, but less likely than not. His minions are always going to keep in mind that the likelihood is they will be held accountable in four years, and may not be willing to play an “all or nothing” game. Bear in mind, too, that more Americans voted against Trump than the entire population of the United Kingdom, and they’re not going anywhere anytime soon.
We also have to keep in mind that things are rarely as wonderful or as terrible as we think. As Canadians, we know about winter, and most of us could do without it. Yet winter is a wonderful thing for nature, kills all kinds of pests that our southern neighbours suffer year round, replenishes our water reserves, keeps us humble, and teaches us that life is a series of cycles. Not to mention ice fishing.
So, there we have it. For readers who are Trumpies, congratulations for now. We’ll see. For readers who spent election night retching, I share your disappointment, but have a nice cup of tea, get your winter tires changed, think about next spring’s seed catalogue, because your life, and mine, God willing, will keep on going. Tuesday night might have been terrifying, but the sun did come up on Wednesday morning, didn’t it?