Well, the people have voted – not it seems with their heads but with their hearts. It looks like emotion has transcended logic and good sense.
So it would seem, if we are to have any belief in the myriad opinion polls taken regularly since the Good Friday Agreement.
They told us that the vast majority of people, irrespective of political persuasion, want local devolved government. They want a diverse but equal society and politicians who work constructively to improve the quality of important things in life like education, health, transport and the environment.
However, put us in a polling booth with a stubby pencil in our sweaty palms and reason seems to desert us as we tick the boxes that are most likely to make the above aspirations impossible.
Certainly, that is the way it currently looks as the DUP use their post-election euphoria not to speak magnanimous words of cooperation to their opponents but rather to rant away with their usual diatribe of tribal attack.
It could get very depressing. But then to become depressed would be to fall into that exact same trap that seems to afflict voters, ie voting in emotion rather than giving their vote to politicians who will do the business and deliver the goods.
If we can ignore the stomach nerves that Paisley's rants engender in most Catholic-born people we should remind ourselves how far Northern Ireland has come since the agreement.
Northern Ireland is normalising. We are well down the road of peace and people have changed. We will not go back. We will go forward. And while my heart might be nervous my head tells me that in spite of the emotional rhetoric, the DUP is on the same road with the same destination in mind: Northern Irish people in charge of their own destiny.
Look beyond the fiery words and look at what their politicians do, not what they say. You will find DUP politicians at grass-roots level with the same concerns and working every bit as hard as Sinn Féin to bring a better deal for people living in poverty.
They know that power over policy and resources is available to them only in a Stormont assembly. This realisation is a powerful and heady motivator.
As we move into the post-election phase, we should not forget the contribution of some of those who didn't make it this time.
The saying that the good die young comes to mind when we look at the casualties of this election. Those I know personally who didn't make it are not just a group of your average politicians.
In fact each, in his or her own way, made an outstanding contribution. They are big people and they took big risks. The sadness for them is that the backbreaking work they did allowed other politicians to leapfrog ahead of them in the polls.
When history is written the Women's Coalition will, without doubt, be shown to have had a catalytic impact on political processes here, way beyond their numbers and resources.
Their very existence as a political party, encompassing women of all shades of political opinion and of background, prepared to sideline constitutional disagreements in order to work politically together to create a better life for our children, established a way of working that sets new standards for all.
Their can-do, positive problem-solving approach was such a breath of fresh air, reflecting as it did the way women in communities have worked, and will continue to work, for peace.
Then there is Billy Hutchinson, an ex-paramilitary honest enough to admit what he was but for many years working tirelessly and at great personal risk for deprived people from every community. The contribution he has made to ensure that the UVF continued to support the peace process simply cannot be underestimated.
Joe Hendron, stalwart politician and professional in West Belfast – throughout the worst years, he worked tirelessly but quietly to support opportunities for the young people of the area to grasp a better future for themselves. He didn't make political capital out of it but he was there to support others when needed.
Joe Byrne and Ivan Davis, bringing to the Policing Board wise, sensible and at times humorous counsel but, critically, providing the dual anchor to allow it to swing into positive action.
There are others, not known to me, today licking their wounds but I am sure they are just as impressive. We have carelessly let some of our best slip from immediate political life.
We should not dismiss such courage so lightly. We will be the losers if we do not find some other way to use their knowledge, their commitment and their potential future contribution.
