At 11:01 ET last night, the announcement came over my TV -
"Barrack Obama has become the 44th president of the United States, and the first African American some 40 years after the death of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.".
It was that moment last night, a suddenly defining moment in history - when I lost it.
I started to cry, overwhelmed by a powerful surge of emotion, a wave of joy. Imagine that - fat white 47 year old from Canada, a person so far removed from the deep aspects of this American moment - loses it. I can't imagine what the daughter of Martin Luther King is feeling or the Reverend Jesse Jackson or anyone who survived the civil rights wars of the 50s and 60s.
The pictures on my TV showing the joyous scenes of Grant Park in Chicago, and in Harlem, and even in front of the White House, everyone seem to be crying in joy. Something amazing was unfolding.
And I thank god I'm alive to witness this, and more importantly - to feel it. Deeply.
This morning, I feel alive, hopeful and excited. The world seems different probably for the first time in many years.
After so much rain, I didn't expect the sun to be so beautiful.
1 comment:
Dude .. I hear ya!
I got weepy, too watching the pictures of all sorts of people .. young and old, black and white .. celebrating in Chicago.
The world, I think .. I hope, is a better place today than it was yesterday.
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