I'm still running on an Obama high. The magnitude of the hopeful change to come has been a blessing not only to the United States, but to the world. I watched on split screens the reactions of people in Australia, in Japan, in Africa - when the announcement came that Barack Obama would be the 44th President of the United States of America. Everyone was rejoicing! This, for me, ranks up there as one of two moments when I was truly PROUD to be an American. (The first was witnessing the abundance of houses, business, highways and peoples donning the American flag following the 9/11 tragedy in a unanimous "United We Stand" moment. I recall seeing someone in the stands of a Cubs game in the weeks following 9/11 with a sign that read: Chicago Loves New York. That made me proud, too.)
The unfortunate situation with Proposition 8 in California is the dim light in this new day, but change starts with change. One day all people will have rights to live as they see fit. The hope of the momentous and historic event we all just witnessed should provide a greater hope to come.
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For the first time in a very long time, I felt some of the cynicism that had come to define not just myself but my generation slip away. Forged in the foundrys of this country's intolerance, bigotry, hypocrisy, that cynicism offered the kind of false protection whose weight drowns us even as we welcome its iron embrace. It is deeply encouraging to know that the politics of fear and divisiveness have not carried the day. As we move away from the with us or against us mentality of simple and unimaginative children, our country and in turn the world begins to take on the nuanced, complex shape that it has always had, but that we have refused to see. While the ban on same sex marriage in California is discouraging, one can hope that it was a minor and temporary setback. While the irrational and ill informed, theologically juvenile belief systems of the right have carried this proposition, they did not carry the day on Tuesday, and for that I am hopeful for the first time in my adult political life.
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