Post Taanis Esther Post - The Day After, But Not Purim

The fast ebbed away and I didn't feel well. I wish it were the pain of galut, the yearning to do teshuva. It feels like the flu. I sat and tried to write my reflections on my day, my life..
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Just yesterday morning I was ready to start the main minyan at seven forty five when one of the assistant principals ran in and said to wait. It felt like a reprieve from the governor, you know - when the messenger runs in and says to stay the execution. He came close and the call was made to start at eight due to inclement weather.
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There we were, a room semi-full with people, waiting. I announced that anyone who wanted to hear a bit about inyanei dyomah should come up front. A group formed and we learned. I mentioned that the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch writes that if we fast on a taanis but go about business as usual then we have embraced the tafel - secondary, and discarded the ikar - primary.
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A colleague passed through and added that, in his opinion, based on the Gemorah in Taanis, the main focus of the day is tzedakah. I expressed that I think there's a tripod of teshuva, tefillah, and tzedakah that can be intimated with the general appellation of Teshuva, which is what I said the day should be about. My friend's comment reminded me, and I shared this, that there is a custom to decide the minimum of how much to donate on a fast day by configuring how much money you saved on food that day. I also mentioned the concept that fasting is like offering a korban in that we lose some of our flesh. (I know someone who wrote his thesis on that.)
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Then we discussed the idea that Yom Kippur/Yom HaKippurim being a day like Purim. If I say that someone is like someone else it means that the someone else is really greater ("You're like Michael Jordan" compliments you but allows that Michael Jordan is the greater player). How is Purim holier than Yom Kippur (in theory)? On Purim we dive into all that we avoid on Yom Kippur: talking, joking, dancing, gifting, eating, drinking, etc. On Yom Kippur we attain holiness by pulling back from all physical activities. In a way Yom Kippur is a cop out. If we can do all the actions of Purim and maintain our integrity then we have reached the pinnacle of being human. In Purim is indeed a very holy day.
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Purim and Yom Kippur are mirror images of one another. On Yom Kippur we fast, yet on the day before it is a mitzvah to eat. On Purim we feast, yet on the day before it is a mitzvah to fast. There is a balance being sought here. (It is interesting to note that Taanis Esther is an exception to the rule that it is forbidden to fast the day before a holiday listed in Megilas Taanis. There are technical explanations for this reality, but I think part of it is the need to balance the extreme of Purim with the other extreme the day before it.)
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Ta'anis Esther stands alone as the one of the minor fasts not listed in Zecharia 8:9. That pasuk refers to four fasts by the months they occur in: the fast of the fourth (seventeenth of Tamuz), the fast of the fifth (ninth of Av), the fast of the seventh (third of Tishrei) and the fast of the tenth (tenth of Tevet). This fast is not mentioned in Tanach or Talmud and the Shulchan Aruch therefore allows more leniencies for Taanis Esther than for any other fast.
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It's weird having Taanis Esther lead into a regular day as it does this year. Or is it regular? We shall see...