Just One Vote Each
i had a small group over last night and a constant stream of text messages with my brother and mother. i watched from the first closings in Indiana and Kentucky until the victory speech and the official call on Florida.
When ABC called Ohio, we all knew. my phone lit up with a one-word text message: BOOM. my friends and i looked around at each other with wide eyes, then jumped up and cheered.
This morning, tired and feeling like i am still dreaming, i find myself in tears. my brother has been touched by this for weeks, somehow better grasping the enormity of this moment. But for me it took waking up this morning and finding that nothing changed overnight, watching the images from last night on the morning news, and listening to the chatter of of my "intellectual elitist" colleagues.
This morning i feel so proud of my country. Over the last eight years i had begun to wonder who we were, and what we believe in. Preemptive war, disdain of the educated and education, and the lack of compassion in our government.
i like Barack Obama and i think he will make a fine president. But i am most proud today of Americans, and their willingness to reach forward into a new generation and to embrace a new (dare i use the word) hope. As i told my students yesterday, both candidates are exceptional men. Both were worthy of respect and honor. Both have accomplished feats of which i am simply not capable. And perhaps i would have felt this way no matter what today. But as i said in the primaries when trying to explain why i would not vote for Hillary Clinton... there's just something about this man. He is an inspiring orator, to be sure. He is an historic figure as the first black president but he also comes from white [Kansas!] roots as well and may be one of the few people who can bridge the gap between races and unite us all. But none of those things are what reached me and my vote. It is his wisdom. Barack Obama is a scholar, a listener, and a deliberate thinker. A wise man... a wise person.
And i can't help but think about what this means to civil rights in America. Just fifty years ago, in parts of this country, this man would not have been able to drink from the same fountain as me. i think of all the older black people in America who remember being afraid to drive across the state of Indiana, and today Indiana casts its electoral college votes for a black man. i find myself hoping that there is an afterlife, so that all those men who were beaten to death, lynched, or executed by a racist state can see how far we have come. Have we overcome? No, there's still so much to solve, and so much to heal, and so many walls still to break down. But America stood up last night and took a stride.
John McCain gave a very classy, very gracious acceptance speech, and i wish we could go back to those days when the runner-up became VP. i was not as impressed with the crowd, but... hey, if there was no dissent, it just wouldn't be America.
Go USA.
When ABC called Ohio, we all knew. my phone lit up with a one-word text message: BOOM. my friends and i looked around at each other with wide eyes, then jumped up and cheered.
This morning, tired and feeling like i am still dreaming, i find myself in tears. my brother has been touched by this for weeks, somehow better grasping the enormity of this moment. But for me it took waking up this morning and finding that nothing changed overnight, watching the images from last night on the morning news, and listening to the chatter of of my "intellectual elitist" colleagues.
This morning i feel so proud of my country. Over the last eight years i had begun to wonder who we were, and what we believe in. Preemptive war, disdain of the educated and education, and the lack of compassion in our government.
i like Barack Obama and i think he will make a fine president. But i am most proud today of Americans, and their willingness to reach forward into a new generation and to embrace a new (dare i use the word) hope. As i told my students yesterday, both candidates are exceptional men. Both were worthy of respect and honor. Both have accomplished feats of which i am simply not capable. And perhaps i would have felt this way no matter what today. But as i said in the primaries when trying to explain why i would not vote for Hillary Clinton... there's just something about this man. He is an inspiring orator, to be sure. He is an historic figure as the first black president but he also comes from white [Kansas!] roots as well and may be one of the few people who can bridge the gap between races and unite us all. But none of those things are what reached me and my vote. It is his wisdom. Barack Obama is a scholar, a listener, and a deliberate thinker. A wise man... a wise person.
And i can't help but think about what this means to civil rights in America. Just fifty years ago, in parts of this country, this man would not have been able to drink from the same fountain as me. i think of all the older black people in America who remember being afraid to drive across the state of Indiana, and today Indiana casts its electoral college votes for a black man. i find myself hoping that there is an afterlife, so that all those men who were beaten to death, lynched, or executed by a racist state can see how far we have come. Have we overcome? No, there's still so much to solve, and so much to heal, and so many walls still to break down. But America stood up last night and took a stride.
John McCain gave a very classy, very gracious acceptance speech, and i wish we could go back to those days when the runner-up became VP. i was not as impressed with the crowd, but... hey, if there was no dissent, it just wouldn't be America.
Go USA.
posted by ellie at 07:55
2 Comments:
GOD, SAVE THE QUEEN
Smartass... ;)
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