The World Keeps Turning: Avoiding election anxiety

For people who care deeply about national politics, the 2024 election is barreling down on us like the locomotive in the 1950s TV Superman intro, but we don’t have the superpowers to stop it. Continuing to stand on the tracks isn’t really a smart personal choice, either.

Meanwhile, the world keeps turning, and I try to find peace in “small talk.” Two areas stand out from the stark blacks, whites, and grays of the political landscape.

“How about this weather?” Most years, this is an invitation for New Englanders to grouse about too much or too little rain, heat, humidity, cold, or wind. But in defiance of the weather tragedies everywhere else, we have been blessed with the most beautiful fall weather I’ve experienced in 50 years here.

I’ve never been a great autumn lover, often experiencing it as a harsh reminder of the winter to come, with a few Indian summer days mixed in to remind us what we’ll soon be missing. But this year, fall established its own season through an unrelenting sequence of days with warm temperatures, blue skies, and low humidity. From late August through the end of October, we’ve been immersed in “San Diego weather,” and “Chamber of Commerce days” that could be featured in a tourism brochure.

And the trees covering our hills and valleys have followed suit. Although slow in coming, our celebrated foliage ignites every panoramic view with a fire that seems to come directly from the earth. A full-color maple set against the bluest of skies forms a torch toward the heavens, a light which, so far, hasn’t been extinguished by the environmental damage we’ve done. It’s a testament to “God the artist,” imparting hues that can’t be imagined by AI or any other technology. (I do apologize to those who’ve suffered recently from Mother Nature’s fury, but it may be the first time in my life I’ve ever wanted to brag about our weather. I can only hope that soon you’ll enjoy some transcendent days in a place that is comfortable and secure.)

“How about those … Patriots?” Nope, doesn’t work for me. I’ve never been a big fan, and today, it’s an invitation to step into fan-eating quicksand. The Red Sox? Another nonstarter. We have fond memories from 20 years ago when “The Curse” was broken (primarily because I wore the same shirt for every game of the Yankee series), but today’s owners have become Ebenezer Scrooge-level cheapskates in paying players while raising the highest-in-baseball ticket prices every year.

But the Celtics? Yes, I’m a die-hard basketball fan, and after some years of tantalizing near-misses, they proudly step into the 2024 season as world champions. Their style of play sometimes leaves me a bit confused, but I’m sure old-time-lovers of the 1960s game said the same about the 1980s Larry Bird era.

But along with the simple joy of rooting as a fan, I have been lucky to follow a team that has participated in advancing a multicultural society. Regardless of all the bad press generated by previous Red Sox owners’ racist practices, the Boston battles about school busing (fought over all the wrong things), and a variety of more recent incidents, the Celtics hold many inclusive records, as noted by Celtics legend Bob Cousy when the newest championship banner was raised: first Black player drafted into the league (1950), first all-Black starting team (1964), and first Black head coach (1966).

It was Bill Russell, winner of 11 titles in 13 years, and a fearless civil rights proponent, who pushed Boston forward and withstood some of the worst racial targeting in the 1960s. It always takes too long, but Russell was finally honored with a statue (2013), and just this year, a bridge renamed for him.

Jaylen Brown joined the Celtics in 2016 and has had some (mostly) ups and (a few) downs with the team, but is one of a few young, outspoken, eloquent, and forceful young men in the league. After signing for $285 million over five years, he has stated that he will work to address the “racial income gap” in minority communities. It’s easy to talk a good game, but it appears he’s following through with actions, working with teammate Jrue Holiday and Holiday’s wife, a U.S. national team soccer player, this fall to award 10 grants of $100,000 to Boston area creative business entrepreneurs.

So, how about that weather? And those Celtics? Just don’t remind that there’s an election in a few days.

Allen Woods is a freelance writer, author of the Revolutionary-era historical fiction novel “The Sword and Scabbard,” and Greenfield resident. His next column is planned for November 30. Comments are welcome here or at awoods2846@gmail.com.