Prevailing Wind
by Guy Spiro

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We who live in the Chicago area are in a part of the country where the prevailing wind is out of the west. Sometimes it’s from the northwest or southwest. Sometimes it comes straight from the north or south and sometimes it’s even out of the east. Most of the time, however, the wind blows in from a generally westerly direction. The deviations from this norm come and go.

We who live in the United States live in a part of the world where the prevailing wind is one of increasing enlightenment and liberalization. Sometimes it’s going in other directions, but this again is a deviation from the norm which comes and goes. Over the past few decades we have seen this time and again. Think back to the fifties with the red scare and the rise and fall of Joe McCarthy. The cold war created a mindset that seemed to set in for the long haul, but in retrospect it had its time and was gone. In the eighties we had the Moral Majority, which turned out to be neither, flex its muscles only to subside again through the nineties. In the last election, busloads of evangelicals narrowly gave the political right and its cultural conservatives four more years, and the hand wringing and gloom and doom on the left has been fearsome to behold.

It is important always to step back and take a longer view of things. With the right holding so much power at present, some things reprehensible to the left will occur. It is unlikely that the worst case scenarios of the biggest Chicken Littles will happen, but when too much power is held by either side, some excesses are inevitable. It is necessary to remain vigilant and to do what can be done to stop the worst from happening. But we need to remember that the prevailing wind is one of liberalization. 150 years ago, slavery was regarded as normal. In our time, the legacy of slavery and institutional racism is still being played out and lived with, but the Jim Crow laws are all off the books. 250 years ago, women were virtual property who could not own property, 100 years ago they could not vote. In our time women still get paid less than men and are still not quite as empowered as men, but look at the progress that has been made. 200 years ago, most governments were theocratic monarchies. Now we shudder when evangelicals temporarily tip the balance of power in our almost completely secular society.

The pendulum always swings both ways. It can only go so far before it must swing back. Similiarly, the darkest point is when the light begins to increase. We’ve recently been at winter solstice, the shortest day, when we are at the darkest point in the year. Yes, this is the beginning of winter and the weather will, for a time, be cold. But remember that from winter solstice on, each day gets a little longer and before we know it, the time of light and warmth returns. So work to minimize the damage that the current administration may wreak. But be of good cheer and optimistic nature because the prevailing wind is at your back.