History in media res

I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

-The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien

It is a very strange feeling, living through a moment in time that promises such a large set of ramifications. Without going into too much detail, the butterfly effect of the events of July 13th, 2024 seem almost assured 

to echo far into the future, let alone casting a large shadow over the upcoming election this November. Despite ever increasing levels of gun violence in America, a serious assassination attempt on the life of a Presidential candidate hasn't been seen since the Reagan era. Perhaps it's a wonder something like this didn't happen sooner. While without a doubt it has been a whirlwind couple of years, amplified by the interconnectedness of all media these days and the inundation of news coverage available, is it really unique in its gravitas? Are we living through an unprecedented time, or are we just prisoners of the moment?

Francis Fukuyama's The End of History and The First Man, released in the early 90s, argued in part that the historical progression of society and ideology had ground to a halt, in large part because of the seeming triumph of Western democracy over the Soviet-aligned communist bloc with the dissolution of the USSR. Unfortunately for him and proponents of the theory espoused in The End of History, historical events very much continued to occur despite the ideological supremacy of liberalism. This suggests that rather than US hegemony signaling the culmination of humanity and its development, it is merely another chapter in an ongoing story. We are the latest to wear the crown, but I doubt we will be the last or even the greatest. It is easy for one's vision to narrow in the light of major global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic or the 9/11 terror attacks, thinking that surely this must be the most significant time to be alive that there ever was. But just as those who witnessed the fall of the Roman Empire or "The Great War" as it was initially referred to (spoiler alert: it wasn't) felt assured that nothing could ever surpass such events, it is almost guaranteed that the current moment in time will be looked back upon as just another turn of the epochal hourglass. It may not be comforting to view things in this light, but I believe it is the only way to remain grounded. 

I spent hours on July 13th staring into space and worrying, worrying that things had changed forevermore and I was about to start living in History with a capital H. It seemed to me in the moment that these bullets were harbingers of political doom for the left, and they may yet be in so far as the 2024 election is concerned, but lo and behold when I went to bed the sun still rose in the morning when I awakened. Obviously I am privileged enough to avoid most real consequences of the Overton Window shifting even more to the right, so my reaction(s) may not hold much weight regardless, but I do think it's important to properly assess the gravity of a situation. Yes, we are living in a very consequential time, but not one that has no historical precedent or possible way out. History can only be written in one direction, and there is still time to make sure that this is merely a drop in the oceanic tub of our recorded existence, rather than the pulling of the plug.