America's healing steps

Five promising signs from recent days that suggest our political and constitutional crises are turning toward better days.

Healing takes time — for bones, and for stressed political systems. It comes one step at a time.

Years ago, I needed surgery to fix a foot that had been banged up in a car accident. Afterwards, I couldn’t imagine ever walking without pain, or pivoting on my toes to chase down a ball on the tennis court. But I got better, literally, one step at a time. One day, after months of physical therapy, I proudly showed my wife that I could pick up marbles with my toes and drop them into a small jar – not a useful skill in itself, you know, but a mark of my regeneration.

These days, my 4-year-old puppy and I take a walk at dawn daily, and I never fail to recall my time on crutches. It reminds me that humans are pretty resilient. If we’re lucky, injuries that weaken us don’t stop us from coming back, one halting step at a time. But recovery usually takes a while.

My old foot trauma came to mind this week amid some small but hopeful signs that our political system is rebounding from the political an…