There’s a French term: “L'esprit de l'escalier” or ”staircase wit” meaning the predicament whereby one thinks of the perfect reply too late, i.e. as when going down the stairs. One for me in 2024 came from overhearing two well-educated young men discussing the upcoming 2024 presidential election.
“I don’t like either candidate,” one said.
“I don’t either,” the other said, leaving the conversation hanging like the Sword of Damocles.
Many times since, I’ve wished I’d said something along the lines of:
Fellers, it’s not a popularity contest.
It’s not a reality-TV show where the principles of theater determine a winner.
It’s not an issue to be regarded as lightly as choosing a coffee shop.
It is the result of a hard-fought battle that allows you to cast a vote for the future of your country.
It requires complex analysis in determining which party, admitting neither meets our beliefs exactly, will leave our country in better shape.
On a planet with probably less than 100 years of sustainable life remaining, it is a chance to choose leaders that may try to lengthen that life.
It is a chance to choose a party that will offer succor to "the least of those among us," for your near ancestors were likely among that group for a time.
It is a change to pay homage to decency in America.
It is complex situation like the Greek myth of Scylla and Charybdis in which a choice must be made between two less than perfect outcomes.
You men will not face the situation I faced in which a faceless Draft Board could send your young bodies to war. But you face your own test of love of country. For goodness sake, treat it with the respect it deserves. Your children and grandchildren demand it of you.
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