Be Like a Cicada and the Catharsis of Dreams by Hugh Panero

I recently dreamt I buried myself in the ground like a Cicada for the next four years, resurfaced alive and well in 2028, comfortably past this election cycle and the wars that rage in Gaza and Ukraine. I am not alone and believe this version of burying your head in the sand is a shared desire triggered by our ugly politics.

If Cicadas could send a scout, they might have buzzed by 2024. According to experts, Cicadas, which have survived for 1.8 million years, are buried underground and only surface en masse for a few weeks every 13 or 17 years. Being underground for the next four years sounds about right.

In my dream, I start my journey into the soil today, so I miss the remaining five months of the 2024 presidential election cycle featuring two aging dinosaurs, which appeals to me. I will miss the spectacle of bizarre and cringeworthy presidential debates, constant fund-raising emails and texts, news coverage designed to generate clicks, views, and advertising revenue, and the partisan network’s screeching. I will also miss the escalating hateful rhetoric, threats of a civil war, and, of course, a stressful election night and its aftermath.

My brood will also miss seeing how the country is governed for the next four years, led by either an unhinged, indited, revenge-oriented lunatic or a steadier lifetime politician, both of diminishing capacity heading for the eventual lame duck status. Trump will be 81 and Biden 85 at the end of the next presidential term. As an aside, the ages of the Founding Fathers on July 4, 1776, were James Monroe (18), Aaron Burr (20), Alexander Hamilton (21), James Madison 25, Thomas Jefferson (33), John Adams (40), Paul Revere (41) and George Washington (44). Just saying.

I would happily miss a few years of nonstop coverage of Trump’s many trials and those of his henchmen, as well as the endless babbling legal talking heads and cable anchors’ breakdowns of every mind-numbing legal twist and turn. I could do without the trial coverage altogether. Just tell me the verdicts when the trials and appeals are over.

For four years, I would also relish not hearing another word from or about the sleaziest cast of B-movie mob characters from Trumpworld who became household names thanks to cable news and social media—Stormy, Michael “The Fixer” Cohen, Rudy “Bankrupt’ Guiliani, and of course, the Don, the married bible salesman, who likes pornstars and former Playboy Playmates. We are all just worn down.

Lounging under moist dirt, I’ll miss seeing the frantic race to become the 2028 Presidential frontrunner, which will begin moments after the 2024 election is decided. Get used to hearing the term “Presidential Exploratory Committee” and being repulsed by an obscene amount of ass-kissing on Trump’s derriere by those entering the Republican field, less so on Biden’s butt from a gaggle of 2028 Democratic contenders.

I also dreamt that during my slumber, the current crop of nut jobs vaporized into political oblivion like former Congressman George Santos. They include representatives Majorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Bobert, and Matt Gaetz. I will also not miss seeing clips of Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) walking around the Senate looking like a physical education teacher in baggie shorts and a hooded sweatshirt about to teach gym class. I am all for supporting mental health issues, but please put on a pair of long pants. I could do with less extreme wokeness and more energy focused on practical solutions to important things like immigration reform.

I would also miss the grinding end to the War in Gaza and Netanyahu’s time as Prime Minister. The Prime Minister’s main job is to protect Israel. He failed miserably, allowing a Hamas sneak attack, resulting in 2000 dead and 200 hostages taken. His brutal response, killing 38,000+ Palestinians, flipped Israel from victim to villain for a generation of young people worldwide. Netanyahu’s self-interest is to keep the war going, delay a Commission to review his performance that will end his political career, and expose him to other domestic legal troubles. Someone has to negotiate a cease-fire, get the hostages back, and figure out how Gaza will be governed. It’s not easy.

Even while dreaming, I had no clear vision of how the war in Ukraine would play out. Putin would rather sacrifice another one hundred thousand soldiers than have his legacy include being defeated by the former comedian President Zelensky and his allies. I would not be surprised if the war raged on four years from now.

At the end of my dream, I rose from my underground habitat with millions of friends, forming a choir, and emitted a deafening high-pitched noise so everyone knew we had surfaced. However, unlike real Cicadas, there was not a lot of mating and mass dying a few weeks later. No one stepped on me, causing a loud crunching sound and I wasn’t swept up and put in the trash.

According to Psychology Today, psychologists either believe “dreams are nothing more than random brain activity that occurs while we sleep or, like Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, believe that dreams reveal a person’s deepest unconscious wishes, fears, and desires.” I believe dreams are Cathartic. Catharsis is defined as providing psychological relief through an open expression of strong emotions. The word is derived from the Latin, Greek word kathartikos or “cleansing.” Boy, I need cleansing after four years of President Trump, several years of a defendant Trump, and almost four years of Biden, who while the right choice has never been an inspirational leader.

When I finally woke up, I was happy to find myself, not a dead Cicada, and less cranky. I felt cleansed and ready to help “Make America Kind Again” and power through the next four years until we can all experience a fresh start in 2028.

Postscript: We are all looking for good news that makes us smile. Above is a video of my son Liam’s unique, sweet wedding proposal to his girlfriend Jess on Saturday. Liam is an MMA fighter and an athletic performance trainer for elite high school athletes. His girlfriend Jess was a D1 collegiate wrestler who now coaches wrestling at Marymount University. She comes from an accomplished wrestling family. The surprise proposal happened at the end of a wrestling clinic taught by her parents held at Liam’s MMA gym, where he trains and teaches Jiu Jitsu. Watch it until the end.

Also, in my April 28, 2024, opinion piece, “Let’s Retire the Word Retire,” I asked readers to suggest a better word to describe retirement. The winner was Inspirement.

Hugh Panero, a tech & media entrepreneur, was the founder & former CEO of XM Satellite Radio. He has worked with leading tech venture capital firms and was an adjunct media professor at George Washington University. He writes about Tech and Media and other stuff for the Spy.