My Tuesday schedule allows me the time to cast my vote during my 11am to 1pm break every election day. Usually at that hour, there are only about 3 or 4 people in line, far outnumbered by the motley but pleasant crew staffing the place.
This past Tuesday, the line extended out the door, down a short flight of stairs, through a long corridor, into a very large entryway, and out onto the to the steps leading to the driveway. 350 people easy.
My first thought as I strode up proudly wearing my Obama tee under my unbuttoned shirt was, "crap!" ..thinking I may not make to back to my office in time. I hustled up to the tail of the line and, straining to gauge the barely perceptible movement, asked the guy who was the previous owner of the last spot, "Any idea how long it's taking?"
He took a slow, easy turn towards me and smiled, saying, "Does it matter?"
He had given me the most perfect answer imaginable, given the circumstances. "Nope...I guess it doesn't," I said, realizing that there was, in fact, nothing more important at this moment than this one act.
The last few days have been remarkable. Have you noticed the look in people's eyes ...the glow ...the knowing that IT HAPPENED? There's something so beautiful that we are daring to look into each others eyes and recognize it: YES, WE CAN..YES, WE DID! I love it. It's the way life is supposed to be ...full of hope, life and a healthy sense of community.
In this moment right now as you read this, because so many focused on a common, higher purpose, we can experience the higher awareness that WE ARE CONNECTED.
We no longer have to live with the awful, embarrassing shame that we Americans are presided over by a cretin with barely the vocabulary of a 4th grader who, lead by his inbred group of political Jim Crow jackals, bamboozled us and stole his way to the highest office in the land to harvest our well-intentioned resources for their dirty, profiteering war.
No ...we are proud that Barack Obama is a reflection of who we REALLY are; a multi-cultural, hard-working, free-thinking, fair-minded, forward-moving, compassionate-hearted, fun-loving nation that is ready to WORK TOGETHER to take on the challenges that face our great nation and this amazing planet we all call home.
We can now proudly proclaim to a very concerned world: "WE HAVE AWAKENED FROM OUR SLUMBER, SHAKEN OFF THE THIEVES AND IMPOSTORS, AND PROMISE TO BRING OUR BEST TO THE TABLE. WE ARE TERRIBLY PROUD TO PRESENT THIS MAN, BARACK OBAMA AS OUR FIRST STEP."
It's sad to me that 46% of voters didn't allow themselves to experience this. Maybe even sadder is the fact that most only voted for McCain simply because he promised "lower taxes." My question to those who made that decision is: how much rottenness, corruption, lying, war, economic collapse, loss of idealism, loss of respect, and downright shame will you put up with ...just to lower your taxes?
The relief that is palpable in the air is one of the most wonderful things I've ever felt. And the entire world is in on it, too. What single POSITIVE EVENT can you remember that caused such world-wide jubilation? For those of my generation, the Moon landing was pretty big. But this was bigger. This reached everybody in a very deep way. This is about the fact that a Black Man had been elected President of the United States of America.
And, whether we've done a good job or not, the world still looks to us as the Last Great Beacon of Hope.
It's ironic that mostly white America became a world power because of two things mostly black: We were able to undercut the world's cotton prices because of our black slaves, and because we figured out what to do with that pesky black goop that oozed out of the ground here and there.
Both had a run that, for many reasons, were way too long; slavery for the millions of obvious reasons, oil because 1) it and all its by-products have decimated our environment, and 2) it has made us over-reliant and creatively stagnant regarding the development of alternative energy sources.
I find it incredibly exhilarating that the worst of these two elements of our past is now extinct, and the other is not close behind. It frees me. Actually, if frees a process that is innate to all of us; THE DESIRE TO CREATE SOMETHING NEW.
I mean ...this country exists because the founders wanted a place where every man, woman, and child could experience the reality of living in perfect FREEDOM, or at least enough that each could create the life they wanted.
For some, it's the desire to create a business, acquire knowledge, or ply a craft. For others it's providing a service. And for many, it's the desire to create a family.
It is an interesting thing that we humans are so flawed that nature's most precious thing -- her beautiful diversity -- is often taken as threat. Cultural diversity is the ultimate challenge to most living in today's world. We are no longer so limited that we only know what describes our tribe, we have instant access to all and everything you could ever want to know about anywhere.
Keeping all that diversity apart before they killed each other was nature's challenge. I think she may have figured out a pretty good strategy. It seems she's decided to let us keep growing our population until we can't hide from one another, and we'll have to assimilate, whether we like it or not.
Obama reflects that assimilation and diversity to us in every way. I think that the fact that we went from the previous Chief Executive to THIS one is ... most excellent. The fact that no intermediary step was required ...simply extraordinary.
We have grown.
And as the President-Elect said in his acceptance speech at the DNC back in August: "But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring. What the nay-sayers don't understand is that this election has never been about me. It's been about you."
Yes it is: WE ARE OBAMA
Much Love, Hope and Peace to all,
Dr Lou
