The Tilt, Righted

In 2008, Life in the Boomer Lane experienced euphoria when Obama was elected. In 2016, she experienced the same when it aseemed that Hiliary would take the presidency. For this reason, she fully expected that, if the seemingly irrationally-hoped-for blue wave would materialize yesterday, she would experience the same. She imagined herself jumping up and down, waving her arms, thinking about the half-filled bags of Halloween candy she could dive into to celebrate, IBS be damned.

Instead, something unanticipated happened. Instead of euphoria, LBL experienced a sense of deep calm. How was this happening? She had to think about it. After real thought, she realized that what was actually happening was that The Tilt was no longer there. The Tilt had materialized in 2020, when she no longer recognized the country she had inhabited for many decades. It was as if she had run into an old friend on the street, but realized that something had happened to their face, something she couldn’t figre out. It wasn’t cosmetic surgery or the usual affects of aging or lighting or LBL’s own eyesight or anything she could imagine. It was as though the features of her friend’s face had all relocated by a milimeter. Her friend was still her friend, but now LBL could no longer predict what else might have occurred by the next time she would see them.

Then, LBL saw that the street, itself, had changed slightly. If she carried a ruler around with her, and more importantly, if she didn’t have her usual complete inability to orient herself in space, she would realize that the street didn’t quite lead straight ahead. The buildings were out of alignment. The sun didn’t sit right in the sky. Nothing had fundamentally changed, but everything had.

LBL isn’t talking about Democrat vs Republican, conservative vs liberal, coastal vs interior. It was about people believing that, by giving away the rights of others, their own rights would be protected. It was about people whose own American story went back a mere one or generations, who would deny those whose own journey would lead them here. It was about people who supported legislation that was in direct conflict with their own well-being. It was about people who believed that a politician superceded God.

LBL thought that all was righted again in 2020. She stopped watching CNN obsessively, in the same way that airline passengers refuse to sleep, believing that if they fall asleep, the pilot will do the same. She didn’t have to monitor every breath the President took. She relaxed. Unfortunately, she soon realized that The Tilt hadn’t righted itself. It had morphed into an impending earthquake. 2024 confirmed it.

On the surface, all of those people gladly supported The Tilt went about their daily lives in exactly the same ways as LBL went about hers. They loved their families. They protected their children. They worked hard. They didn’t expect handouts. They would never harm another person. If they ever cheated on their taxes or inadvertantly allowed the elevator doors to close before someone got in or honked at another driver in traffic, they would feel guilty about it. Small, imperceptible changes, that created a small tilt. They looked the same, but LBL no longer recognized them. And what LBL was experiencing every single minute seemed to be something that they never saw.

What LBL never saw was the very real long-time-coming frustration brewing in these seemingly complacent people, the frustration and anger that boiled over last night. They could ignore the destruction of the most basic of human rights and of an administration’s blatant corruption. What they couldn’t ignore was the cost of gas and the cost of groceries. LBL feels no vidication over this. She only feels relief. If the cost of that tank of gas or that loaf of bread is what it took to awaken anger and frustration and a sea change of vote, then so be it. She will accept that.

The people have spoken. The Tilt has righted. It is now up to those who have been elected to make good on their promises. Most people probably realize now how easily The Tilt can reappear. May that awareness make us even more intentional than ever to mantain this country as one we believe it could be.