A nation at a crossroads gets a new beginning Ted Anthony Glenshaw, Pa. — The enormous signs, selling for just $9.99, greet shoppers at the suburban supermarket’s entryway, carrying a holiday message that means something very different this year: “GATHER,” they shout, even as the state’s governor urges citizens to do precisely otherwise. To come together or to stay apart: one of the countless, sometimes excruciating dilemmas that Americans find themselves caught between as a disheartening year is finally and enthusiastically shown the door. They’re caught between presidents, one of whom is clear that he really doesn’t want to go away. They’re between a ragged year of pandemic and either a successful vaccine or another chapter of upheaval. They’re between people on one side who say the country’s crashing and burning — and people on the other side who say the same thing.