What a magnificent whirlwind, both political and spiritual.
It was quite a scene at the Asylum yesterday. A huge room full of like-minded people, liberals all (as far as I could tell) with high-def monitors on all the walls and full bar service.
I mean, is there any other way to be a witness to history?
Well, yes, I suppose there is. Sometimes just walking around, helping a child learn, baking cookies for colleagues, being reminded by a homeless man's smile to look up at the new sunshine even on the coldest days - we are all witnesses to history all the time.
I was hoping to sneak down to DC for the Inauguration but as with so many things in my life the logistics defeated me - that and an invitation to work in the Orchard the day before it happened. Such is my delight in - and loyalty to - my job that it convinced me to stay. I'm glad it did.
Unlike other elections I've been at the Empire for all of the major events - nominations, acceptances, debates, elections - the whole smash. That's been very different. It's not the same as being directly involved in making calls, knocking on doors, arguing ideas - and ideals. Perhaps I'll start to rethink that.
As has been noted earlier I tend to cry very easily when rocked by strong emotions - and since most of my emotions are that way I need to carry Kleenex with me a lot - or wash my sleeves. The implications of all these events had me sniffing all day.
I love to see the good guys win, such moments have a deep resonance for me. I've not always experienced myself as a "good guy", much less a "winner". Perhaps I have a simplistic experience of myself - I'm certain I do. Getting past this has been a major motivation in a lot of what has happened in the last year or so.
Seeing Obama be inaugurated was powerful. I had seen him from the very beginning, followed the fight, the setbacks, mistakes and irrational hatred arising from his candidacy. Even in my fifties I'm surprised that I can watch a man five years my junior succeed and think "That's what I want to be like. That's the kind of person I can be and should be, more often."
It's a surprise - to acknowledge that one has the possibility of realizing one's potential, even if it's moving to a lesser degree of foolishness.
People of color - no matter the conditions that nurtured (or didn't) them have a bit more to get through. Sometimes greater, sometimes less, sometimes external or internal, enobling or enabling.
But be that as it may I think, at this moment, we have moved into a place different from any we have been in in most of human history. To quote a soldier from a black Union Army regiment during the Second Peninsular Campaign of the Civil War: "Bottom rail on top, now". It may not be a total change but it is the beginning of full change.
That, of course, will only come when change comes to all the hears of the county, freely and with unquenchable grace.
But change has come.
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