I remember reading an essay, years ago, titled “What Did I Think Would Happen?” by tech-savvy journalist Kirk Hamilton. I think about it a lot. He recounts the story of seeing a tiny insect crawling around *inside* his computer monitor. He tries to flick it away, but to no avail. He prods at it. He can’t believe the thing has gotten between the glass and the LED. As it crawls around, his irritation grows. He can’t get his work done — the bug was too distracting. The tiny insect keeps traveling back and forth, back and forth, over a dozen times. He is incredulous the insect doesn’t have somewhere else to be. Then he says, “I will spend the rest of my life struggling to explain what happened next.”

He squished the bug.

He squishes the bug, leaving the mangled insect permanently affixed inside his screen. He says, “I will never be able to un-see it, ignore it, or pretend it isn’t there. I will never be able to forget that its existence is entirely my fault. It will haunt me forever.” 

I’ve retold this story many times, most often to my students. I always start with the title it deserves “What did I Think Would Happen?” (It turns out, I misremembered the actual title*.) Students find it hilarious. They love hearing the story because once he puts his finger to the screen, they know what’s coming. It’s a great way to teach about dramatic irony and critical thinking. Hamilton goes on to ask “Why? Why did I do it? What did I think would happen? There was one possible outcome to such an action. One.”

The day after the election it was this story that came to mind. Today after watching a slavering rampage of 100 power-grabbing, intentionally over-reaching executive actions, the question hovers in my mind: What did we think would happen?

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