There I was the other night. I was exhausted and understood how Edgar Allan Poe felt when he wrote The Raven. “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary...While I nodded, nearly napping,” I found myself at Hviids Vinstue, which has been a bar and eatery in Copenhagen, Denmark, for nearly two centuries. This is what it looked like as I nodded and nearly napping.

Hviids Vinstue

It was late in the evening, and I found myself with Søren Kierkegaard at the table in the left corner of the restaurant. We were drinking Cherry Heering and eating blue cheese on brown bread. While being there drinking with Kierkegaard, I realized he had died over a century and a half ago. Both realities seemed valid to me.

Kierkegaard seemed troubled about why I was there. His reality was real; what perplexed him was what I wanted from him. I fumbled around, trying to address his question. Finally, I was able to articulate about what was happening in America. Kierkegaard listen intently as I explained that we have two people running to be elected as our next president. One was the former president, and the other is the president. The former president wishes to be an autocratic leader of our country. At the same time, the other wants to be the leader but wants to do so legally. The vexing question is will America have a dictator or a valid leader?

Finally, Kierkegaard reached into the vest pocket of his coat and pulled out the pamphlet Enten-Eller, Danish for Either/Or. Then, looking into my eyes, he mused, “I wrote this in 1843, which was a century before you were born.” I merely nodded and didn’t mention that he wrote it under one of his pseudonyms.

Either/Or

Kierkegaard leaned back while munching on some bread and blue cheese. It was as if he was mentally lining up a philosophical statement. I didn’t say anything; I merely allowed him a moment to organize this Weltanschauung. Slowly, the Dismal Dane began.

“It seems to me that you and your fellow citizens are presented with an either/or situation. You, Americans, are forced to either buy into Biden or to do so with Trump. Either you accept Biden with his flaws, like not remembering things. He is honest, but he does have these occasional mental missteps.

“Or you can vote for Trump and buy into his litany of lies, exaggerations, and his mental missteps of your former president. Actually, Trump has to those elderly moments like Biden. Additionally, depending upon the day, Trump sees himself as equal to or better than Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, and Jesus.

“I have often said, ‘Life can only be understood backwards, but must be lived forwards.’ Trump is the captain of a Ship of Fools. I read where you taught art history. Do you remember Hieronymus Bosch’s painting Ship of Fools?”

Ship of Fools

I told Kierkegaard that Bosch’s painting was filled with symbolism. Back in medieval times, locals would put the fools onto poorly constructed ships that would eventually sink. Then I said, “Let’s watch this video about present-day Ships of Fools.

Kierkegaard seemed amused by the video even though musically it wasn’t what he enjoys. We sat there chatting until just before midnight. He thanked me for our discussion, but as we were about to leave Hviids Vinstue and go our separate ways, he stopped. Then he grabbed my shoulder and said, “Remember it is an either/or dilemma. Americans will face either backing an old man or another old man, who is the captain of the Ship of Fools.”