Perhaps later this year, after the midterms and/or in two years after the next presidential election, we’ll be able to confirm the existence of the silver linings we hope the Trump presidency has gifted us.
Maybe the Democratic Party will actually embrace a more progressive and inclusive agenda instead of just positioning themselves as the less Nazi alternatives to, well, Nazis. Maybe this embrace will also force them to genuinely attempt to attract and engage apathetic voters instead of just guilting them for, essentially, matching their level of care. Maybe they’ll acknowledge and attempt to right the literal and intentional obstacles preventing people from voting instead of blaming them for being thwarted by them. And maybe this all will lead to a more engaged electorate.
Now, however, we can only hope that we’re at least able to watch the final season of Game of Thrones before Trump’s Supreme Court rules that HBO can show nothing but unedited airings of Gran Torino.
In the meantime, we have to snatch and steal smiles when we can get them. And this video of a dad giving his toddler daughter an improvised rollercoaster ride will warm even the coldest and darkest of hearts.
In the two and a half years now that I’ve been a dad, I’ve discovered that a) toddler-sized feet feel like giant forks when kicked in a shin by one and b) the joy in improvising entertainment for my daughter. I just did not anticipate how much fun it would be to create fun for her. My inventions so far, however, have been limited mainly to conjuring unique ways to play hide-n-go-seek. This rollercoaster thing that this dad is doing is some next-level, advanced-stage dad-ing. It’s the Xbox to my UNO cards.
It’s the type of improvisation and joy-finding necessary to grasp any sort of peace while bombarded with the daily assaults on our personhoods, freedoms, liberties and sanities. We’re all still waiting for those silver linings, but sometimes its helpful to be reminded of who we want them for.