Political leaders, investors and everyday citizens, no less than actors, need to understand when to take a beat. (Photo by Kyle Head on Unsplash)

A good actor knows that the best thing to do on stage is sometimes nothing at all. It’s called “taking a beat” — holding for just a moment, or perhaps two, to let the audience absorb a line or grasp some action that has happened. Sometimes a beat does more than let a point settle in; sometimes it adds intensity, or squeezes a laugh from the crowd.

Beyond the stage, too, it’s sometimes good to take a beat — to let the world take a spin without you. That was my intent this week. After nine months of weekly columns under The Upstate American banner, I figured Thanksgiving week would be a good time to take a day off. Maybe writer and reader need a break from each other, I thought — or maybe that was rationalization because one of us just wanted an extra family day.

But the habit of meeting a deadline is hard for a longtime journalist to break, and …