It has been a week since the election, and the Barak Obama euphoria may have worn of only slightly, but it has been replaced by the hope for which he so eloquently spoke of during his campaign. I have seen it in the faces of my friends, I have heard it when a car pulls up to me at a stop light and say’s “nice sticker – glad we won – I am so happy!”, I have heard it from waiters in the heart of Tennessee. Of course I have also heard the opposite side, how could you support a Muslim! Yes, I have actually heard that more than once. Ignorance I can’t understand. But I’ve also heard very encouraging words from some folks who voted for McCain.
I knew this election was about something special when I was travelling in Patagonia earlier this year and several people asked, “Is the US read to elect a woman or a black man?” And in September my wife and I were walking the streets of
Paris and saw the above image of Obama used in an ad for the French news station. And once again, we were asked, “Are you ready?”
But that euphoria, that wonderful feeling we all felt last Tuesday night, still feel today, if you are an Obama supporter anyway and maybe a little bit even if you weren’t, must now be put into the actions we all are hoping for. I believe that last Tuesday, most of us were still only hoping for a win by Obama, yet the last two elections hung heavy on us and we wondered, can we do it? So, as the polls closed and it became clear we had elected someone new, we had voted for change, we had beaten those who mostly talked in scare tactics and anger and meanness. So it was natural for us to be euphoric. And I watched it unfold from my home in Evanston, a Chicago suburb and most definitely an Obama town.
We ended up staying home – not going to Grant Park, since the expected crowd was to be 1 million. But the noise around here at 11 was great. I think we were more excited than if the Cubbies had actually won the World Series! Of course that may be in great part to the sea change everyone is hoping for in our political and historical place in history. I think the majority of folks, slim as it may be, truly believe we can be a better people. We can be better participants in the world. We can leave this place better than we found it. It is that hope which I believe spilled into the streets and parks in downtown and in various suburbs all across America last night. It is that spirit in which we bask this morning. And I believe it is that spirit which will bring people together to actually do some of the hard work, both in Congress and in our own towns to solve the problems we face today. It is now the time to ask what you can do for your country, whether it is working for change by writing to Congressional leaders, working in neighborhood organizations or working one on one with folks to make things better. It is now our time. Let’s make it happen.
Peace,
Richard
