First commentaries: Letters from an American 11:18 p.m; Civil Discourse, 11:19 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024.

The contents of this post were written before polls opened on Nov. 5.  A post on the results will follow within a couple of weeks, likely before Thanksgiving.  I’d invite anyone to include their own observations in the followup.

I have no idea what the results will be.  The general theme has become quite clear over time: one philosophy is oriented to the past; the other to the challenges and promise of a better future.  (I’m from the past, and cast my ballot for the future.).

About all I’ll say, going into tomorrow, is that I’ve never seen such a stark contrast in vision; one looks back; the other looks ahead.

The photos below represent my visioning going in.

On the good old days side: a few days ago a relative sent a picture of the last remnant of a blacksmith shop in a tiny North Dakota town.  Blacksmith was an absolutely essential rural business.

All that was left of the shop, opened over 100 years earlier, was what you see in the second photo. Indeed, most of these small towns have barely survived.  I know.  I came from them.  The shop itself (first photo) came with the founding of the town about 1905, and is shown in 2010, over 100 years later.  Such is how life goes.  The persons who worked in this blacksmith shop had a hand in building a future unknown to them at the time.  They are all gone.

We know what was.

The future, of course, is ahead.

120 years ago, the people who worked in and were customers at the blacksmith shop could hardly imagine our world of 2024.  Similarly, we now have to image 120 years from now….  We, especially the youth, have no choice but to look, and live, forward.

I choose to symbolize the future through a new book I just learned about two weeks ago at the annual breakfast of Fresh Energy, an organization you should know about.

The cover of this new and hopeful book, by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, just published in September, is below. PBS interview with the author is here.  The book is readily available and well worth your time.  It speaks to the younger generation which will inherit what we leave behind.

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I have done three other posts in the last few days if you wish. The Great Depression begins; Watching Congress October 31, 2000; and Community.

COMMENTS (more at end);

from Jim: Good one, Dick!  Best wishes in the aftermath.

from Ruth: Very disappointed that Trump was elected President and Republicans got the Senate.  Very depressing for the world and allies like Canada.  Very bad for Ukraine.

from Joan: I’m sickened and so disheartened by the results, I can’t believe it.