i never wrote an election post-mortem here. like many posts you never see, i originally intended to. but when election day was finally over i was exhausted and drained, i just wasn't up to it. plus, i got emails from several friends who were often what i though far more articulately than i could here. i even emailed a few back to ask if i could simply post their emails on this site. but by the time i got their permission, it didn't seem necessary anymore. election post-mortems were well covered in the blogisphere. it didn't take long to jump that shark.
but it was also something else. by this morning i got over the election. having a professor in your home can be very educational. one of the things i've learned is that everyone has an emotional baseline which is where we are most of the time. events can throw us off, but eventually we will return to our usual level of happiness. particularly terrible events can make the return take longer, but in the end, we all find out way back. apparently this even happens with people who lose their limbs. after a while, they go back to being as happy as they were before they got their arms lopped off. i particularly like this theory. it's a nice idea, at least if your baseline is pretty happy to begin with.
so yesterday i was despairing like a lot of people. i've never been so emotionally invested in an election before and my exhaustion only made it hurt more. but i got a good night sleep last night and woke up feeling normal today. i still think the election was a disaster. i still fear for the future of this country and believe that most voters made a terrible terrible mistake. but today these are just ideas in my head not pits in my stomach. my natural optimism has returned. i feel no need to rant about the election that might have been anymore.
