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Michael Cianchette is a Navy reservist who served in Afghanistan. He is in-house counsel to a number of businesses in southern Maine and was a chief counsel to former Gov. Paul LePage.
I missed my anniversary.
No, not my wedding anniversary. My wife and I celebrated 12 years as a married couple last weekend. Several jobs, a deployment to Afghanistan, and a few kids later, we’re still going strong.
I missed my anniversary writing for the Bangor Daily News.
The decade mark was sometime this past summer. I debuted as the right half of a writing pair, opposite Angus King’s first Democratic opponent for the U.S. Senate, Cynthia Dill.
A lot can happen in 10 years.
Going back to read old columns is like opening an old photo album. Some of it brings a smile and a fond memory. Others make you cringe and wonder what the heck you were thinking. When Cynthia left and I soldiered on solo, my first few pieces weren’t great.
Putting a metaphorical pen to paper nearly every week to try to write something relevant, interesting, and hopefully engaging is hard. But, like raising kids, building Pinewood Derby cars, or leading a team in pursuit of a goal, accomplishing hard things can be rewarding.
For those who have read these columns, thank you. I’ve had a bunch of interesting correspondence both with people who enjoy my pieces or others who feel that I’ve completely missed the mark. Both are great.
Like a marriage or family, it is okay to have differences of opinion. Life would be pretty boring if everyone agreed all the time.
I’ve also had some less-than-pleasant messages from folks and learned early on not to read online comments. Anonymity is a powerful, necessary thing that can unfortunately embolden our basest instincts.
Over the past 10 years, it seems as if we’re faced with more of the base every passing day.
We saw the United Arab Emirates establish diplomatic relations with Israel — something good — but are now currently watching a Middle East conflict spiral in a dangerous direction. Our national debt has more than doubled from $17 trillion in 2014 to more than $35 trillion today.
Russia has invaded Ukraine multiple times while China’s aggression towards Taiwan has continued to increase. Oh, and COVID happened.
Yet, despite all that, a decade into this business I remain optimistic.
Domestically, politics are a pendulum and things may be starting to swing back from the partisan brink. The vice presidential debate this past week was a return to normalcy. Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz took some substantive shots at each other, but shied away from juvenile name calling and silly games.
In some ways, it reminded me of writing with Cynthia. There are a few areas where we agreed on things, but for the most part it was repartee. Even then, the disagreements didn’t diminish our personal relationship.
The same holds true outside the political arena. My wife and I don’t agree on everything, but we work through those differences of opinion; we’re 12 years into the rest of our lives.
As we move towards the November election, things will get a little rough as the hard-fought campaigns rush to the finish. The world itself may be concerning as Russia, China, and Iran’s belligerence creates the possibility for escalation.
But for all that, we’re pretty lucky to be American. The example set by Vance and Walz — at the end of the debate, hanging with their wives, shaking hands, and exchanging pleasantries — is one that should be emulated writ large.
Ten years into this gig, I want to thank readers and the Bangor Daily News for the opportunity. Hopefully many of you find this effort worth reading, even — or especially — if you disagree with me.
And, yes, that includes my wife. Happy anniversary.
Election notice: The BDN will stop accepting letters and columns related to the Nov. 5 election on Wednesday, Oct. 30. Not all submissions can be published.
