I love moments like these, days like these.

Cable and broadcast TV networks have pre-empted all other discussion about things that at the moment seem strangely irrelevant.

That crackpot in North Korea who keeps threatening to hit us with nukes? The aftermath of the Charlottesville riot? The “Russia thing” and the investigation that is under way in D.C.? The president’s idiotic tweet tirades?

They’ve all been, um, eclipsed by the sun and the moon.

Citizens of the world’s most powerful nation have been transfixed by the sight — or the prospect of the sight — of a total solar eclipse. The moon passed in front of the sun and in many places across a large swath of the nation, the sky went dark.

Crowds of thousands cheered. Newsmen and women were acting like children in their excitement as they reported the “totality” of the eclipse. CBS News has been playing The Beatles’ classic, “Here Comes the Sun.” Does it get any cooler than that?

In Amarillo, where we live, we didn’t get the total eclipse. The moon covered a good bit of the sun, but it didn’t get terribly dark here.

It didn’t matter. We waited with breathless anticipation.

I’ve seen one of these eclipses already. I watched the 1979 eclipse from my hometown of Portland, Ore. It was cloudy that day, as I recall, but the sky went black. Zoo animals freaked out.

That was then. Today is a special day.

The sun and the moon allowed many of us to forget temporarily the issues that have caused such concern.

Alas, tomorrow is just around the corner.