Galvin crop

Welp.

Here we are.

There’s no avoiding it now.

We can’t change the channel. We can’t pull the covers over our heads. We can’t click our heels three times, repeat a mantra and wake up from a bad dream.

The sky is half-filled with clouds.

And half-not.

1,399 days … 33,576 hours … 2,014,560 minutes … 120,873,600 seconds (give or take) since democracy hung in the balance as a scaffold was erected in the heart of our nation’s capital, we are going to elect the next President of the United States.

Theoretically.

It might take days for all the votes to be counted in some states.

Then … the Great Unknown.

In 2000, the argument went all the way to the Supreme Court.

In 2020, the argument went all the way to the parking lot of a landscaping company in the northeast Philadelphia village of Holmesburg.

For everything, there is a season.

A lot has happened in the past 1,399 (or so) days.

Yet, it seems as though we’re right back where we started.

The embodiment of Sister Carrie in her rocking chair — always in motion, never getting anywhere.

You try running in place, or even standing still, for 120,873,600 seconds. It’s exhausting.

If you’re not apprehensive about the outcome of Tuesday’s election, you’re a braver soul than I am Gunga Din.

If you’re not apprehensive about the aftermath of Tuesday’s election, you might not have been paying attention.

And who can blame you?

Or, perhaps, you’re one of those who believe that everything will turn out fine — regardless of who wins.

If that’s the case, I’m envious … although I’m a bit worried for you.

A recent ABC/Ipsos poll finds that 83% of Americans are prepared to accept the results of the election as legitimate, even though only 65% are confident that votes will be counted accurately.

Unfortunately, that 83% aren’t running for the presidency.

The same poll reports that while 69% say that one of the two major candidates will accept the results, only 31% believe the other major candidate will do so.

Which candidate is which, I’ll leave for you to figure out.

(You’re taking too long.)

Of course, those are opinion polls — and we only believe in those when they say what we want to hear.

American democracy is less than 250 years old. That’s a fact, not an opinion.

First glance, 248 seems like a healthy, substantial number.

It’s not.

Let’s use me as an example. I’m 67, which means I’ve been alive for roughly 27% of our nation’s history.

I find that mind-boggling. Either I’m old, or the United States is really, really young.

Though they’re not mutually exclusive.

And while our history is punctuated with nation-changing moments of turmoil, upheaval and progress, we’re but a blip when compared to countries that existed long before us and have gone through countless revolutions and evolutions.

This coming Tuesday seems like one of those moments … does it not?

How we got to this crossroads is not the relevant question. We know how we got here.

It wasn’t pretty, but the ratings were good.

The real question — the one everyone wants the answer to, but no one wants to contemplate — is “What happens next?”

Spoiler alert: No one knows.

Not the politicians or the pundits or even your parents. Not the voices yammering nonstop across social media, traditional media, or whatever proto-media will make the rest obsolete over the next four years.

History, to adapt from Hemingway, happens gradually — then all at once.

Perhaps we’re not stopped at a crossroads, but stuck in a roundabout, trying to figure out which exit to take as we keep going in circles. Always in motion, never getting anywhere.

Welp.

Here we are.

There’s no avoiding it now.

Good thing winter is around the bend. We might need those extra covers to hide beneath.