I think the answer is no, we are not ready. But we are ready to start getting ready.

Do you know what a post infection syndrome is? I had a bad middle ear infection once as a young man, totally debilitating. It sounds silly, but I had high fevers and lost my balance and could barely walk for a couple of weeks.

Once I got treated and properly dose with antibiotics, the infection went away really fast. No more fever, no more intense pain.

The doctor told me it was over, I was cured.

But the thing is, I continued to suffer for a couple of months. I was dizzy, lacked good balance, and often felt nauseated.

I asked the doctor about that, and he told me a lot of damage had been done to my middle ear – to important systems my body depended on. I was suffering from what he called a post-infection syndrome. My body was busy trying to repair the damage the infection had caused, but it wasn’t done yet. I had important healing left to do.

I think our nation will be experiencing a post infection syndrome for a very long time to come. Trump enabled many of us Americans to do great damage. To our institutions, to our culture, and to our fellow Americans.

We can think of Trump as the pathogen that enabled that damage, but we have to think of ourselves as the necessary agents of repair.