Jon Stewart, media prophet

Because he asked us to, hundreds of thousands of people gathered in one spot to hear a man speak.

The man said what he felt needed to be said. He gave no direct instructions, no political endorsements, but he told a joke here and there. When he had finished what he had to say, he walked away.

Jon Stewart has evolved from late-night comedian to modern-day prophet.

"I can't control what people think this was. I can only tell you my intentions," was how Stewart began his final speech at the Rally to Restore Sanity. He gave us a metaphor of America as one massive traffic jam, ten lanes of vehicles that must merge into one so that they can enter a mile-lone tunnel. It would be impossible without compromise, without concession. "You go, then I'll go."

Stewart ended his rally with a moment that was appropriately Zen.

"If you want to know why I'm here, and what I want from you. I can only assure you this, you have already given it to me. Your presence was what I wanted. Sanity will always be and has always been in the eye of the beholder. To see you here today and the kind of people that you are, has restored mine."

If we did help restore Jon Stewart's sanity, I'm grateful because he is the man who has kept me sane for 11 years, especially during the Bush administration. Apparently, he had been helping a few other people too.

As I drove by the National Mall and saw the crowds crossing the street, I didn't see anyone carrying signs. This worried me. I had put a lot of work into making a large sign in the shape of a tea mug. One side read, "Try a cup of sanity." The other read: "More reason, less fear." I had the feeling like I was showing up in costume at a party that was not actually a costume party.

I had nothing to worry about.

Actually, the rally was very much like a Halloween party. We loved to take pictures of each others' signs. Many were not political. "Up with boobs." "Down with panties." "Down with toilet seats." "I have a sign." "I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it." "Anyone for Scrabble later?" "Everybody poops."

Kids carried signs. People wore costumes, and dressed like bananas, as a gorilla in a Ghostbusters uniform, as a fox, as Darth Vader. One guy wore a dress made entirely out of candy. I think it was all Smarties. A lot were college-aged people, but every generation was represented. A couple I talked to in a Starbucks after the rally had come from Pittsburgh. The man said that it was the largest rally he had been to, and that included when he had been a protester during the Vietnam War.

But what united all of us was that we had shared that same moment of sanity each night, delivered by a man who gave us the news, but with a reality check. "Yeah, did you see that? Did that really happen? Did he really say that? He did, and it was crazy."

So, we came to Washington D.C. for one big national reality check. And we came away a little saner. Through the skits and video, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and the rest of the Comedy Central team showed us America through the funhouse mirror of media punditry. With Stephen Colbert's media assault, he showed us the fear and the ugliness.

And it was a balanced assault. The video clips included Fox commentators -- including some from Glenn Beck -- but also liberal pundits going over the edge. "Republicans are liars," one commentator screamed into the camera. It was an image that stayed with me. In this age of attack ads, I'm tempted to scream the same thing. Seeing that in the video montage helped me pull back.

That is what I hope came out of the rally, that we all as a nation could pull back from the brink.

There comes a time in an argument when we nearly say the things that we don't mean to say, but after we say them, we create a breaking point from which there is no return. After such arguments, people may stop talking to each other, sometimes not for the rest of our lives.

If that happens politically, then we lose the opportunity for compromise. Without compromise, government will not work.