(AFP-Getty Images) Hoboken, NJ (I used to live there!)
We've had a little too much excitement lately here in America. A lady on the phone from England asked me last week if the right man had won. I think so. As Maureen Dowd put it so sagely today, we may not have elected him this time on his message of hope and change, but rather, we just hope he WILL change! (And find some cojones!)
But it certainly can be argued that this was an election of hope and change. There are other wise people who say that human progress is accomplished more through evolution than revolutions. If this is true, then it seemed that this election signaled the handing of the baton to the (more highly evolved we're guessing?) children of the baby boomers. It's a generation not only happy to be governed, and by women and people of color, but a generation convinced of the value of hard work, showing up, and being counted. (Woody Allen always said that 98% of success is just showing up!) They went to the polls, they got people to the polls. And they elected MANY candidates who represent hope and change. Most importantly this election could neither be bought nor stolen, (despite our worst fears) despite the insane amounts of money that were poured into it by both parties. Oh my, just imagine what problems could have been solved in this country and the world if the $2.5 billion had been spent elsewhere.
Anyway, I think the soft-hearted ones prevailed. Nothing wrong at all with being soft hearted. When you use your ingenuity and stick-to-it-iveness to make sure that everybody gets a chance (or even two) and nobody is left behind. That's my idea of America.
It's nice to know that other people think of it that way too. Including some of you who've left nice notes of support for President Obama.
Much Aloha.
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De loin, comme de nombreux Français, je suis contente de cette réélection.. qui est encourageant...pendant que la France sombre dans le pessimisme le plus total...!
ReplyDeleteyes, the play of democracy does make one wonder at times. a relief here for the end result, we are less lucky locally, but then, it might also be a sort of see-saw thing, where one loses some, one gains some, and patience seems to be at the heart of it, at all times.
ReplyDelete"people! people who need people. are the luckiest people in the world".
(always streisand will have me hum that tune at the oddest moments, and it sometimes brings me chagrin).
but! this round's on progress, and that's what counts. well done, us of a.
n♥
Glad to see you writing about this my friend. Soapbox?. I'm sending all my brownie points to you this morning for having written this commentary. I for one was getting awfully worried about the thought of the other one getting in. Seemed a distinctly worrying set of values for these time! With the escalating planetary pressures methinks we need leaders with a feeling for people not just bottom lines ...more character, more vision and far more adept complex thinking colliding realities...as you say hopefully more guts this time to push things through.
ReplyDeleteWith Govts, Corporations and Economists the world over becoming more and challenged when leaving people, environment and sustainability out of their strategies its going to take heavy duty leadership to plough through and work to shape things into the future that the planet needs. The air we breathe is only supported by the habitat we don't bull-doze, by the bio-cultural diversity we don't diminish... by the natural resources we do maintain. We need a time of post-greed thinking to hold on to the very things that keep us breathing and alive... never saw Rpmney being remotely aware of that battle.
Here's hoping for a strong vision forging strong actions and movement forward!
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