When everything seems like turmoil it’s time to step back

The American political world right now is probably best described as “in turmoil”.  In a span of 8 days we had one nominee for President nearly assassinated, with the federal agency tasked with protecting him refusing to answer basic questions.  

We then had a sitting President withdraw from his re-election campaign via a post on X – what most of us commonly call a tweet.  A follow up message indicated President Biden has endorsed Vice President Harris to assume his place.  

The latter turmoil is exacerbated at the time of this writing as President Biden hasn’t been seen nor heard from.  Only his social media posts have done the talking for him.  There was no speech from the Rose Garden to celebrate his half century of political service.  There wasn’t even a video filled with heavy jump edits for him to make the announcement.  Just words in a social media post and an auto-pen signature.  

In the absence of full information, the public will do what the public does.  It’s easy enough to create conspiracy theories when there is full information but some don’t want to accept it.  It’s even easier when information is being purposely withheld.

The assassination attempt on Former President Trump has had over a week to generate these, from both the right and the left.  Some are choosing to believe that the Secret Service deliberately allowed their protected candidate to be shot.  Some – including many who should know better – are even advancing a second shooter theory.   Abraham Zapruder was unavailable for the rally to supply video, unfortunately.

On the left, you have others denying that the President was actually shot, or that the bandage his is wearing is necessary for what they believe to be a superficial wound.  Some who should know better here include a prominent host on a major cable news network.

The country – and the world – needs to hear directly from President Biden soon, in his own words.  We don’t need any more people filling the current lack of information with their own thoughts and projections onto what is actually happening here.

With so much uncertainty, and so much turmoil, what is the average American to do?  When everything seems to be racing out of control, it’s often most important to take a deep breath, and then take a step back.  

Looking at a situation that seems somewhat out of control is hard to do in the moment.  Zooming out gives a wider view, and helps regain all important perspective.

The day before President Biden’s announcement was the 55^th anniversary of man walking on the moon.  I reposted a tweet from Dr. Buzz Aldrin recounting the remarkable accomplishments of the Apollo 11 crew, with the following words of my own added:

“Imagine a country so united despite all the trouble going on across the globe that all of our financial and technical might, along with all of our hopes & dreams, could be harnessed to do something none in human history had ever accomplished. This was us.”

I can’t remember this uniquely American achievement, as I was only 4 weeks old when it happened.  But I grew up in a world where America had proven it could do the impossible in less than a decade when we decided together as a nation we could focus all of our resources into one singular goal.  

That was us.  Is it still?

The race to the moon began under Democratic President Kennedy.  It was stewarded under Democratic President Johnson and accomplished under Republican President Nixon.  Red or blue, black or white, Americans came together to expand our frontier and prove that we could advance mankind before our chief cold war adversary could.

Today, we let the most trivial and petty things divide us.  We do this to the point that we refuse to acknowledge basic facts and truths if it would give our domestic political rivals an advantage. Too many of our instincts during times of turmoil are about political self-preservation rather than working together to fix a problem that would ultimately be a rising tide to lift all boats.

We can’t always change the way people react collectively.  We can change how we as individuals view and react to surprising events.

The next few weeks promise to be chaotic.  Let’s all remember to take our own deep breaths, take a step back as necessary, and always resolve to take in the full picture.  Maybe we even need a long look at the moon and remind ourselves that if we can just resolve to work together, anything in a free country is possible.