From the Depths of GWB to the Peaks of Obama...

Originally, I intended to send this as an email to Tamra of Lucidnation.
(Check out her Blog... if you Appreciate Timely, Honest, Intelligent, Biting and Hit-the-Nail-on-the-Head Social and Political Commentary.) She had penned another brilliant Blog regarding her perceptions, experiences and feelings from the excruciatingly heart-breaking GWB selection up to last night's Obama Victory.

But, as I was proofreading it, I decided I'd like to share it with all of you.

T:

I can relate.

The election results of 2000 left me utterly shocked and horrified.
("How could so many people be so dumb?")

And, when GWB pulled the smash-and-grab of 2004, I was teetering on suicidal.
("No... Not Again." The whole situation seemed pointless. Sadly, our gullible fellow Americans fell for the flim-flam. Our country was being manipulated by fear-mongers and diving towards disaster.)

"Hmm... If not suicide, then I'd figure out a way to... Well, never mind."

Thankfully, I've a couple of beloved people in my life that I couldn't do such a selfish thing to.

O.K... Nix removing myself. Nix tempting the Secret Service have a go at it.

How to Survive the next 4 years of Yee-Haw Hell?

I clung for dear Life to the only thing left... HOPE.

Yesterday - Hopeful as I was - I emailed my close friends and family to say that, depending upon Tuesday's election outcome...

I'd either be making a spectacle of myself - jumping up-and-down, deliriously happy, embracing total strangers on the street...

Or, I'd be tearfully reviewing one-way airline tickets to the U.K.

News of Barack's (and America's) Landslide Victory spontaneously erupted on the street via the sounds of jubilant screaming from seen and unseen people for blocks all around me... the whooping and hollering multiplied and spread out in all directions. Car horns began to honk in celebratory morse code and wail. ("Whew! Can't really afford that airline ticket right now, anyway.")

"Is it True?" "Did he Really Win?" It seemed to me it was too early to know for sure.

I couldn't deal with getting my Hopes up and having them dashed again. I quickly called my Mother to verify and when she quietly said, "He won." (I could feel and hear the smile radiating from her heart to her face through her voice), grateful tears of joy streamed from my eyes.

Are you going to celebrate with the Obama volunteers? (My Mother had joined the thousands of Obama offices across the country that made phone calls and went to important states to talk with people.)
"There are volunteers who are going to meet at the office, but I wanted to take this historic moment in in peace and quiet at home.", she said. "L., I remember each of the assasinations of John and Robert Kennedy and the assasination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr...", she continued, "and the murders of students and the race riots... and I just want to be here by myself." I understood, as well as I could.

I can't know what it is like, exactly, for my Mother and for other Americans who lived during those tumultuous and tragedy-ridden times. I know the news of Barack's victory filled my own Heart with so much joy, it felt like it would burst. I grew up in the South. My first elementary school crush was on a school-mate who happened to not be white. As shy a child as I was in every other way, if I saw one child picking on another based solely upon the color of their skin, I would jump up and intervene on their behalf and berate the bully. I knew - even at that innocent age - the difference between right and wrong, and I knew racism was wrong. Of course, I'd learned about the heart-breaking events of the Civil Rights Movement. I'd seen film that depicted or was historical record of the kind of vile evil that one man can do to another for no other reason than ignorance-based hatred. I mourned for all who had suffered at those times. And, I felt anger at the racial inequalities and injustices that had managed to continue on since then.

Then Tuesday Night Happened. Barack's victory is a Ground-Breaking Moment of Historical Proportions. I know Everything that's wrong about racism or about our country won't change overnight. But, this victory is Change on a Global Scale. And, I Hope, it's Only the Beginning...

I'm thrilled with Obama's win for many reasons and on many levels.
My Best Wishes to Barack and Michelle (and the girls).

None of us is Perfect (though, the thought of Palin in the White House was - in a word - Terrifying.), but I feel that besides being Brilliant, Barack Obama is a Genuine and Compassionate Human Being. And - in spite of the many pitfalls of politics - he has managed to maintain his Integrity.

So, I'm Grateful. So Very Grateful. I Am - Simultaneously - Jubilant and Humble.

Having sworn off organized religion eons ago, I won't say the oft-repeated:

"God Bless (The United States of... ) America."

But, I will say:
"Thank You To... " and "I Love The United States Of America."

The Truest and Greatest Ideals of Our Amazing America are Alive, Well and Kicking A**... Right Here and Right Now and (Hopefully) Forever.

Thank You!
Peace.
L.