This “opinion piece” will run the day after the election; I am writing it two days before. You’ll already know what I do not.

Truman was President when I was born, but I don’t remember him, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t remember me. I liked Ike and even admired that upstart boy and his family in Camelot.

Next came the beagle ear-puller, then the “your president is not a crook” crook, and his replacement who proclaimed that the long national nightmare was over.

We must have been in great need of kindness to have elected Carter and completely devil-may-care when we turned to Hollywood for a leader. The Bushes, Clinton, Obama, Trump … well, you remember them all and their foibles.

So I have been through quite a few of these four-year bloodbaths. I’ll admit this one feels like the Super Bowl of all elections. Will — or should I say, did — Budweiser and Apple and Pepsi wow us with commercials on the big day (yesterday)?

It’s a big day not only for who wins, but for what it says about us. You and me. Will we hate each other or hold out a glove-covered hand? How deeply does the fault lie in ourselves instead of the stars?

Maybe the human species has gone as far as it can go. This Big Blue Marble is in a helluva mess. AI is less scary than the faulty old programs that made our own brains functional … we seem to have passed their use-by date. Maybe it’s time for newly-evolved Adams and Eves, models with face flaps and no need for water and little fear of change. If they fear change these days, they’d never leave the garden, and what help would that be?

Our problems were monumental long before COVID-19. On the downside, none of us can leave the country if we hate the election results; on the upside, this stay-at-home time helps us bring neighbors together. Mine are purchasing a sno-blower together to meet the coming winter. I consider this positive since it implies there will be a coming winter.

Today, the day after the election, you will be feeling a little more hope or a little more despair, depending on how the wind blows for your candidates. Whether depressed or joyful, give each other a little room. Don’t be a knee-jerk jerk. Both sides are capable of acting like nincompoops; I know that, because I have been one myself.

Walk away from confrontation. There will be plenty of time for that. Instead, use a little of the time you have been given by COVID-19 to consider what the hell are we going to do next?

Linda B. Myers is a founding member of Olympic Peninsula Authors. Her newest historical novel, “Dr. Emma’s Improbable Happenings,” is available at Port Book and News, One of a Kind Gallery and on Amazon.com. Contact her at myerslindab@gmail.com.