There are distinct disadvantages to being of "a certain age," specifically the age at which I now find myself.
And I'm not even talking about the way my knees feel. Or the 45 minutes it takes me to actually wake up, despite the fact I've been more or less vertical for roughly 50 minutes. Or that I'm not at all sure why I came into this room. In this house. But I pray its not because I was looking for my cellphone.
No, the disadvantage for those of us who have been here for more than a minute is that, well, we've been here for more than a minute and we've seen a few things.
So we have a pretty good idea how things are going to turn out. And the short version is, "not well."
OK, it's not like we've seen everything. I mean, if I was able to give you any insights on worldwide pandemics based on personal experience, I'd have had to have been around since 1918. And I'm not that old. I just feel like it on Sundays after the grandkids have been here.
Also, I reserve the right to be wrong, based solely on previous experience. I mean, after polio vaccines, I had a little more hope for rapid worldwide acceptance of inoculations. Or at least for people not to revert back to rejecting science or drinking fish tank cleaner rather than take a medically approved shot.
However, there was that whole "don't contaminate our drinking water with fluoride" thing, so maybe I should have seen this one coming.
Take politics, for instance. Please.
It might be fair to say the nation finds itself somewhat at odds with ... itself these days. That's been the case to some degree since the country's founding (I mean, how else would we have had a plot for the musical "Hamilton?"). But those differences seem to have become about as deeply entrenched as possible, even considering that at one point in our history we had a civil war. Which I don't personally remember, just like the Spanish flu epidemic and horses and buggies. No one likes a smart aleck.
I mention this because we're in at least the early days of a congressional hearing into the actions of the president of the United States -- No. 45, not 46. You might have heard about it. Been in all the papers and on all the TV shows. OK, except for ... well, never mind.
And while it's certainly an unpleasant occurrence in our nation's history, it's not, at least to those of us of a certain generation, an unusual one. We have seen this movie. Literally a movie about this. Actually, several movies. And television shows. And a few books.
We sat (sometimes at the insistence of our parents and teachers) through the Watergate hearings, hearings which helped end Richard Nixon's presidency and the careers of several of his associates. And also led to the ridiculous habit of putting "gate" on the end of everything we wanted to portray as a scandal. I mean, Pizzagate? Really?
If that experience taught us anything -- beyond realizing lots of people will believe someone who has proven he's not to be believed if they feel believing him is in their best interests -- it's that these events aren't nearly as cleansing or cathartic as we'd like to believe.
There is the widespread contention that things like Watergate or the current hearings serve as avenues to resolution of some national disgrace and that the Truth, like Time, heals all wounds.
Hate to say it, but time has taught many of us that's not exactly so.
There are still people in this nation, though that number may be fading, who believe Nixon was innocent or at least got a raw deal. Of course, there are also still people who believe the Civil War was about state's rights. There are even people who believe the world is flat. Thankfully, they haven't fallen off the edge yet.
So, hearings, testimony, revelations (sometimes shocking). All that. The sordid mess of Jan. 6, 2021, needs to be examined, hopefully so nothing like it will ever happen again. But if you're expecting to come out of this with some sense of closure or even agreement on the basic facts, well, my experience suggests you're in for disappointment.
I'm not saying you need to be careful what you ask for. You already know that. I am saying history has taught us not to be surprised by what you get.