Well, here it is. After 8 long years, the opportunity to take back our country is here. I am almost too excited (and a little nervous) for words. 8 years of the worst stewardship of public resources in generations. 7 years of war. Trillions of dollars wasted. Too many opportunities wasted. My friend, whom I’ll call Joe*, wrote something that I think is a wonderful expression of many of my feelings, and maybe yours too. So, I will share it with you in closing and hope that tomorrow we will meet at the dawn of a new, better age. Here’s to hope and change.
Hi,
I wanted to write all of my friends who have listened to me bitch about the state of our country for the past eight years and share some election day thoughts. Jill* and I went to our polling place in West Harlem at 6:15 am. At 6:15 am, the lines stretched out the gymnasium, down the street, and around the corner to Broadway. It took us about an hour to vote. When I walked by the polling station at 9 am, the line was the same length.
As I stood in line, I thought about a trip we made to Mississippi a few weeks ago. Jill and I saw the river where Emmitt Till’s body was found in 1955. We saw the building at the Ole Miss campus that still contains hundreds of bullet marks from people who tried to keep James Meredith from registering in 1962. And we saw hundreds of Obama signs in people’s yards. My visit to Mississippi made me think about the path America has taken in the past 50 years and in the past eight years. The path that led us to a place where a skinny guy from Kansas with the middle name Hussein is on the verge of being elected President. This path was built by people such as James Meredith, John Lewis, Rosa Parks, and Emmitt Till. And it was built by people who got angry about hanging chads, the Lower Ninth Ward, Alberto Gonzalez, Gitmo, and Mission Accomplished and took action.
Frederick Douglas said “If there is no struggle, there is no progress”. We have struggled for the past eight years, but the promised land is almost here. It is almost morning in America. I am proud to live in this country today. And I am looking forward to celebrating tonight with my friends in West Harlem.
Sincerely,
Joe
*Fictitious name [Altered to protect anonymity.]
