Inflection Point
Listening to President-Elect Joe Biden’s speech this evening, one of the phrases he used to describe this moment was ‘inflection point.’ While I had a basic grasp of what he meant when he used this term, I nevertheless felt the urge to look it up.
Dictionary.com set forth four main definitions, with the second definition having six sub-headings. I wasn’t expecting that many options. However, it was the fourth entry that described the situation most accurately:
- Mathematics. a change of curvature from convex to concave or vice versa.
When I read that definition, I ‘saw’ and understood.
Imagine a Contact
Imagine a ‘hard’ contact lens, a concave surface, face down on a table. The election of Donald Trump four years ago essentially had us, as a country, ski boarding down the curvature of that contact lens toward an untimely and devastating crash landing into the table.
Suddenly, however, through the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, we’ve reached an inflection point. This is where the concave shape of our trajectory changes completely. The contact flips so that it is convex, tilting upward.
Now, instead of barreling toward a future that has us destined for a metaphorical face-plant and certain death, we’re heading upward. And not just any old ‘upward.’ No, where we’re headed, the sky’s the limit.
It’s a new day. All of us can dream new dreams – but especially, our little girls. Our country reached an inflection point and the trajectory of our journey has changed.
We – they – can set their sights where there are no limits. We – they – can reach for the stars.
Stars Above – Photo: L. Weikel
(T-384)