I have been feeling like a grown up more than ever. With my boyfriend searching for an architect job in a terrible economy, living in a city with the highest sales tax, and high gas prices (unless I want to pump around the neighborhood I work...which I did once and would not recommend), I am beginning to feel the effects of adulthood. You can feel the tension in the air which is something I've never experienced before. Everyone looks stressed, just walking down the street, you can see it, painted over their faces. Distraught. Worried.
So this election was pretty important. I think our country could use a little more spirit these days-a new found soul to help us get our beat back. The night of the election my sister and I went with 100,000 other people down to Grant Park. The city of Chicago was lit up and glowing. The line to get in stretched for miles down the closed city streets. We stood in line hoping to inch up, to get closer, to be part of what many of us had been waiting for so long. Cells phone stuck to people's ears trying to keep up with which way each state would go. We finally go in and we began to run. There ahead was Grant Park and CNN screen was blaring through the air. Finally we reached the grassy field and we stood and looked around. I was surrounded by a sea of people. Black people, White People, Asian, Indian, those who spoke English, Spanish, French, or other, rich, poor, middle class, homeless, almost homeless, young, middle aged, old, freshly born. Here we stood together and there was this sense of anticipation on every one's faces. Like when I a kid and would wait at my front door at 6:15 each night anticipating that moment-when my dad would turn down the corner from the bus and home from work. I knew he would come, but every night I had this tiny moment, like maybe he wouldn't. And tonight, it felt like that. Like we expected something good, but yet knowing it something could happen.
I stood in my high heeled boots for five hours, and I expected to stand out for many more. I couldn't help but think about the way my mom would describe how she felt when JFK became president. And although Obama is his own being, in ways for the first time I identified with my mom. I wanted him to win so badly, for me, for my students, for our country. For those kids who will now know that an African American can be president, or that it doesn't matter what your race/gender but rather who is most qualified and entrusted, to those who can restore trust in our nation's leader, to Europeans and other countries who can restore faith in the U.S.'s ability to change and learn from our mistakes, and to those who need to regain hope in themselves and what America can offer.
I believe Obama will put some life back into the soul of this nation. I know he will make mistakes and things will not magically change overnight. But for me, he is the person I trust to turn things around. As I reflected, suddenly there it was, the announcement, he had won. I stared around me as the crowd cheered and screamed. I could hardly believe my eyes. It happened so fast and my heart lifted. The crowd was wild with joy, but in such a mellow and peaceful way. We sang and high-fived and awaited Obama to come out on stage. Finally there he was before us greeting us and as we listened to his words I knew that yes, yes we can.
We drifted home that night with the city streets closed to the waves of people trying to make it home. To those we may have voted McCain or those we voted Obama, the point is we are one country and we can unify. It was late and I had to be up soon for work, and as I sat on the El awaiting my Western stop, exhaustion rested under my eyes. It was one of the first times I felt so happy to feel so exhausted. I looked out at the city lights and awaited home.
No comments:
Post a Comment