What an incredible day this election day turned out to be. I would have never thought that Barack Obama would actually win the presidential bid. Of course, George and I were hoping that he would become our next president.
Frankly, we thought that America was just not ready yet. After months and months of watching the opposing side throwing all the nastiness, accusations and threats at Barack and the Democrats, we just gave up on the common sense of the American people.
And then just before 9 p.m. yesterday we happened to check our e-mails and there was that headline starring at us from the computer screen. We couldn’t believe it. We turned on the TV just in time for Obama’s acceptance speech. The first African-American president-elect gave an amazing speech. Although it was uplifting, it was also a very soberly speech.
Come January 20th, 2009, the day Barack Obama will be inaugurated as the President of the United States, he has to start to deliver. He has to succeed in keeping his promises. He must produce results. But he can’t do it all by himself. Each and every one of us has to pitch in. Barack needs our help.
Yes, people, that means you and I have to change our way of thinking and living. It means giving up a little something and giving back for the good of the many. For a better and more humane society, a healthy environment and a more peaceful world.
We have to start sometime. Let’s finally do it. Now!
George and I are disappointed however. Greatly disappointed in California. The majority of voters there did vote for inequality and injustice. While not official as of yet, Proposition 8, a ban on same-sex marriage will likely pass. We thought that California was more progressive than that. What a surprise to find that most Californians are indeed very much backwards in their way of thinking. Not quite as liberal as the world makes them out to be.
But America... Americans learn slowly. Very slowly. How long did it take to free the slaves, give women the right to vote, allow inter-racial marriage? Now the United States has elected its first black president. We seem to be moving in the right direction again.
However small these steps may be and however long it may still take, the day of full equality for every single person, regardless of gender, race, religion...and yes, sexual orientation...will come eventually. It’ll take just a little longer. We should be grateful for what we have achieved yesterday. We are getting the country on the right track again. We are heading in the right direction.
Baby steps. Small little baby steps.
1 comment:
Gay activists let us down. They didn't tell California's gay population (and their heterosexual allies) that it was already predicted in several mainstream news articles that Prop 8 had a good chance of passing because the African American voters (out in droves for Obama) would clinch it. Shockingly, somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of gay men in California didn't even vote. If they'd been made aware what was likely to happen, they could have voted in droves themselves and we'd have different results.
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