Spare a thought for those who haven’t been elected president. I refer not just to Heather Humphreys or Jim Gavin, nor merely to the various public figures who tried in vain to get on the ballot.

Sympathy must also be extended to a wider group: to all those people who once said “I want to president when I grow up”, or who otherwise harboured secret dreams of rising to the State’s highest office. That opportunity is now shut off for another seven years.

Many of us carry through life a firm belief that we are destined for pre-eminence and public acclaim. Parker J Palmer, an American author, educator, activist and practising Quaker, is one of them. Or he was one of them – until he got the notion out of his system.

“From high school on, I had been surrounded by expectations that I would ascend to some sort of major leadership,” he wrote in his book Let Your Life Speak, first published in 2000.

These expectations drove him into prestigious roles in academia. But, as he climbed higher professionally, the belief that he was destined to be superior to others became more of a burden. The anxiety grew and........

© The Irish Times