Word: retrospectively
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Many other Rooseveltian acts loom larger in historical retrospect than they did at the time, when they passed unnoticed or unappreciated. For example, T.R. was the first President to perceive, through his own pince-nez, that this nation's future trade posture must be toward Asia and away from the Old World entanglements of its past. Crossing the Sierra Nevada on May 7, 1903, he boggled at the beauty and otherworldliness of California. New York--his birthplace--seemed impossibly far away, Europe antipodean. "I felt as if I was seeing Provence in the making...
...first summer as an umpire vividly. I was about to graduate high school, and I decided to make a little extra money for the summer by umpiring at the little league fields where I myself had played as a child. The money was really a bonus though, in retrospect, I would have done it for free, and I still would. Where else can you get a front-row view of an 11-year-old first baseman wearing futuristic sunglasses, blowing a bubble, winking at a girl he wishes was his girlfriend and dropping a hard throw from the shortstop...
...going to drink, but it's against the rules. So, here's the deal: as long as I don't know about it, it's okay. Just don't make me have to enforce the rules." At the time I didn't think much of it. But in retrospect, that comment, coming from someone I then took to be a respectable authority figure, led me to assume that everyone would be drinking and that it was an acceptable and accepted practice...
There we all stood, hypnotized by what we had found. The wind blew, but no one shivered. A woman who, in retrospect, sounded quite zombified, quietly said, "We have to save the squirrel." Yet no one moved. I was going to be late for an Expos conference, but it didn't matter. Slowly the dog advanced. The squirrel stopped nibbling, cast a disdainful glance over his shoulder and went right back to munching. The dog took another step, and the squirrel, who didn't appear to be looking, took off like a shot, arriving safely at a nearby tree just...
...retrospect, regret not having called the Crimson, since we could at the same time have explained that the woman affected and her roommates did not wish to speak to the press. As it turned out, a Crimson reporter did call the woman, and this call was extremely upsetting to her and to her roommates; for this particular reason we are sorry we did not try to be helpful by contacting the Crimson first...