What a day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Watching the election results last night in a small cafe with a friend of mine, I must admit I got all teary eyed. In some ways I wasn't allowing myself up until then to be truly hopeful. Truly hopeful that the US can change - and if the US change, that we all can change.
Obama's victory speech was so moving. Moving because of his composure, because he seemed to embody all that eh was saying but also for me because he didn't deny the fact that the road forward is going to be a difficult one - that for all those Americans who want to see change, they need to be first and foremost the change they want to see!!!!
And because his speech was so moving here in his own words:
“I know you didn't do this just to win an election and I know you didn't do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. […]
The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there.
There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president, and we know that government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree.
And above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it's been done in America for 221 years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.
This victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.
So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers - in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people. “
It’s giving me shivers …
Indeed, we all ought to and deserve to be hopeful, but it ain't going to fall right out of the sky - it's going to take everyone's effort, sweat and tears and sacrifices. It's going to take our sense of COMMUNITY - a sentiment that seems to have gotten lost all too often in this ever more competitive modern world of ours emphasising the pursuit of selfish individuality...
So many of my friends have been saying that for the first time in a long time they feel proud again! Proud and hopeful. Hopeful that this administration will know how to treat the environment, gently and with respect and finally hear the wake up call and maybe even sign Kyoto?? Hopeful that money will be allocated to healthcare. Hopeful that spending will be shifted from money going towards weapons of any sort to education and research.
Hopeful that by electing an African American & the change he embodies the country will know to be more humble, and tolerant than ever.
And I'll leave you with this video.
