Nov 05 2008
a new day
a wednesday, to be exact. but we are sort of waking up to a different world, even though he won't take office until january. i must say, i'm pretty excited for a lot of reasons. one, i woke up (way too early after going to bed way too late) to a sense of settled optimism. not to mention the joy that all this election crap is over. i have no doubts had the election turned out differently, i would feel trepidatious, disappointed and sad. (though i am completely disheartened that california said yes to prop 8). as far as the future president though, i have to say it does give me hope, to borrow a rote word. it gives me hope that at least over half the people in this country voted for someone who wasn't an old white man. i'm certain that among those who didn't vote for him there are multitudes who didn't care what color his skin is either. growing up where i did, i wasn't sure i would ever see that happen. it's comforting, in that wide-eyed, smiley under a warm blanket sort of way. and i'm heartbroken that his grandmother didn't live to see it. but beyond that, i really do think obama will be a good president, and i'm fairly certain that the rest of the world feels a lot better about our country today than they did yesterday. that in and of itself is something to cheer for. the only thing i do wonder about with a slight disquiet is those charming mccain/palin fans who seemed to foster such an irrational hatred for obama. watching mccain's (great, i thought) concession speech last night, ben and i were just shaking our heads listening to the crowd there. today is the day to get back to being americans, living in purple states. whomever you voted for and for whatever reasons, remember God (or your Higher Power of choice) is still in charge. of the whole freakin' universe. for me, and my delightful laundry-doing benjamin (how hot is it when you come home from class to folded clean laundry and dirty laundry being washed? very hot i tell you.) country first is not the answer. God is first, then family and friends. then (for me at least, can't speak for ben on his one) it's people in need, any people, anywhere, any kind of need. if you can help someone, do you first see if his/her political, religious and general life views agree with yours? i don't. i'm pretty sure when Jesus said love everyone he meant EVERYONE. yeah, i wanna change the world, but for me the world includes the lil corner in which i live. it's us, not the president, who can fix things. so start sweeping. (ooh, was that socialist? dare i say a bit marxist? yeah. he was a smart guy, read him). and recycle already dagnabit. ok, i myself kinda wanna vomit after all that happy schmappy positive entreaty-ness, and that would end badly since there's nothing but coffee in me, and i really need to keep that there. but i do mean it, and i needed to say it. now. happy humpday and enjoy the lack of campaign coverage. and if you're like us, maybe it's time to take down those halloween decorations.