America Looked Up for Four Minutes and Agreed on Something

On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse carved a path from Texas to Maine, and for a few minutes the most divided country on Earth stopped what it was doing and looked at the sky together. There were no partisan takes on the eclipse (though some people tried). There was no discourse about whether the moon was blocking the sun responsibly. There was just... a shadow, moving across the land at 1,500 miles per hour, turning day to night, and reminding several hundred million people that the universe is magnificent and does not care about your timeline. Schools let kids outside. Highways pulled over. Grown adults cried at something they intellectually understood but emotionally could not contain. It lasted about four minutes in any given location, which was roughly the national attention span and therefore perfect. By the next morning the arguing had resumed, but for one afternoon, Americans shared an experience that required no ideology, no subscription, and no WiFi. Just a pair of cheap glasses and the willingness to be small.