The Struggle for Patience in an Impatient Nation
It seems time to climb back into the saddle at Opinion-Columns after a sojourn afoot, leading my no longer trembling horse back toward the home stable. The election has been won and, with it, my almost psychopathic need to gallop off in this or that direction, dispensing opinion like scattered shots at disappearing rabbits. I’m on foot. I’m relaxed, as my president seems to have not yet put a foot wrong.
And yet . . .
It’s my hunch that we are not 10% into the economic bad news to come and my concern is not that we will be unable to deal with the collapse—Americans are good at that—so much as unwilling to wait.
We are not good at waiting. We are a nation of doers and sometimes the work that needs to be done is less productive and requires more of a steady hand. I am reminded of the photos from post-war Germany. While Europe largely stood around in shock, kicking its toes in the dust and waiting for rescue, the Germans cleaned mortar from rubble and neatly piled the bricks. They would nee…