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Vail Daily columnist Richard Carnes: The consequences of today

Richard Carnes
Vail, CO, Colorado

There is only one thing I am absolutely sure of today, and that is the sun rose over the Gore Range this morning and will set over toward Glenwood Springs this evening.

The exact same process will occur tomorrow (give or take a few microseconds), and even though what happens between point A and point B will be about the same as today, a few of you will be vehemently determined to scream otherwise (complete with measurable amounts of spittle).

Here’s a helpful survival tip: Get over yourself. And do us all a favor and do it quickly.



No matter the outcome today, tomorrow we’ll all still live in the same houses, drive the same cars, shop the same stores, ski the same slopes, hike the same trails and drink the same beer.

Not much will have really changed (unless you try a new beer, I suppose).

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Sure, one side will claim victory while the other will inevitably claim some degree of fraud, but that’s to be completely expected, yet no amount of sour grapes will alter the outcome either way.

What’s done, will be done, as they say.

Besides, it was bad enough that we had to live through the below-the-belt punching of nasty emails, the back and forth bitch slapping of letters to the editor, and the juvenile antics of another SignGate.

Tomorrow I hope those involved have a collective “Rodney King moment” whereupon they realize they used to be friends and now need to accept the democracy-decreed outcome and move on.

Especially those who think they have lost.

Look at it this way, no matter what your personally perceived consequences are, life can always be worse, and in the big picture (picture me flipping both palms upward), it really won’t make much difference.

Not only will the sun continue to rise in the east and set in the west, but Obama will still be president, and Romney will still be trying to take it away from him.

The pious will still scream for liberty out of one side of their mouths while telling you how to live your life from the other.

The radical right will continue to wish Bin Laden was alive and GM was fish food while demanding the left stop their never-ending war on religion, Christmas, freedom, the job creators and Rush Limbaugh.

The radical left will continue to demand the wealthy pay more taxes and accuse the GOP of hating women, homosexuals, minorities, poor people and Bill Maher.

The Broncos will still have Peyton Manning to look forward to, and the Jets will still have Tebow to deal with.

I will still be glad I never had a daughter, but will always wonder (with a bit of envy) what it would be like if I did.

The list is endless, the changes subtle, and chances are high that none of the anticipated outcomes will ever actually come to pass anyway. They rarely do.

So win or lose, today is just another battle in the war of life (sorry for the cliche), and in the end we all lose eventually, so just enjoy the day and plan for tomorrow.

Me? I think I’m gonna go try a new beer.

Richard Carnes of Edwards writes weekly. He can be reached at poor@vail.net.


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