waiting to exhale
i’ve been almost afraid to breathe. the fear that i’ll have my hopes dashed once again this election have me so wound up, i daren’t trust any polls, pundits or predictions.
eight years ago, in spite of all popular will, my candidate lost. four years ago, in spite of all meaningful logic, my candidate lost. along the way, the country has become lost.
so very, terribly lost.
so you’ll excuse me if i haven’t had the audacity to hope for much from this election. when your hope ends up in a million little pieces, time and time again, it gets a little harder.
of course, there’s a certain segment of the american population that understands that truth much better than i do.
if she still has hope, how can i not?
These two boys waited as a long line of adults greeted Senator Obama before a rally on Martin Luther King Day in Columbia, S.C. They never took their eyes off of him. Their grandmother told me, “Our young men have waited a long time to have someone to look up to, to make them believe Dr. King’s words can be true for them.”
if they have hope, how can i not?
like this man. just a man. not a saviour, not the answer to our prayers, not even always right. who is the target of death threats because of the colour of his skin.
yet he still has hope. he tells me there are better days ahead, if we’re willing to shed our fears and doubts.
he asks me to believe.
how can i not?
Like this post
Comment by Charlotte
29.10.2008 @ 05:18 am
I’m right there with you, Jen, hoping and believing that it can happen.
Comment by noble savage
29.10.2008 @ 11:37 am
God I hope he’s able to do what I think he’s capable of. We need it like nothing else right now.
Comment by nikoline
30.10.2008 @ 15:08 pm
jen. this post made me cry. i am with you in every word here. I’m taking the actions I can and then holding firm to the knowing that on Tuesday Barack Obama will be elected our new president. I will cry then too. Safe journey home. Glad you’ll be stateside for this space in time!!
Comment by Terri
30.10.2008 @ 20:49 pm
Hi Jen,
I so hear you on this. The rampant racism that has run through the opposing campaign is worse that I ever expected. While not a fan of his, I had no idea that McCain would sink to this level and allow this in his campaign. It has many of us here still in the US very worried. We’re not worried about Obama losing, but because of the divisiveness, there is a certain percentage of the population that honestly believe Obama is a terrorist and will be selling the country out to terrorists- although they never really define these terms, so who knows what this actually means.
While the world will be so pleased with an Obama administration, they should also fear our crazy-righties, as they are hell-bent on destroying everything the Obama administration will try to accomplish.
Terri