Thoughts – After the Ball Was Over

Last night as I watched the news of the election intently, it soon became clear that Barack Obama was winning the presidential election. His success exceeded my expectations. None of my fears of mass cheating at the polls came to pass. Best of all, the newly registered people, and especially the first time voters and students, actually showed up and voted. I guess they understood how important their votes are to their own futures and that of the nation.

I was sitting here a long way from another human being, but I swear that when Barack Obama was declared the winner, I could hear a collective sigh of relief from all the people in the country who, like me, are fed up with the dangerous and arrogant rule of George W. Bush. I wish that one would leave office early, and let Barack get started right away to clean up his mess.

While watching the thousands of people at Grant Park in Chicago as they listened to Obama's acceptance speech, I was struck by the wide variety of faces - African, Caucasian, Asian, Native Americans, people of Spanish decent, and some that looked like mixtures of ethnic origins. I felt that I was looking at the collective face of America.

And all of them are descended from ancestors who came here seeking freedom and opportunity for chance at a better life. Even the Native Americans came from somewhere else looking for better hunting. And the land between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans north of Mexico and south of Canada in most cases didn't let them down.

As the camera panned over the crowd, occasionally giving us close-ups of individuals, there was one thing they all had in common - their huge adoring eyes. The eyes of those people created a mental snapshot that I will never forget. Some  were crying from happiness. Tears poured down the faces of celebrities like Jesse Jackson, and Oprah.

I wonder if they were thinking about the nearly 390 years of suffering by their forebears since the first African slaves were transported to the English colony at Jamestown back about 1619. From then until 1865 they were often treated no better than animals. Even after emancipation they have lived precarious lives subject to the whims and injustices of white people and little recourse available to them from the law.

Although there have been many African Americans who have achieved great success in almost every field, people are thrilled that, for the first time, an African American has been chosen by a land-slide to hold the highest and most prestigious job in the land - President of the United States.

The moment was spellbinding as Obama gave a humble and gracious acceptance speech. He had the audience in his the palms of his hands. At that moment I think that if he asked the audience to join the foreign legion with him, and march across the Sahara Desert, they would have clamored to sign up.

In the few years since Barack Obama first came on the public stage, fate has favored him. Maybe he has been guided by a higher power. I am convinced that Barack Obama, this unique and remarkable man, will not disappoint all those people with the adoring eyes. I believe he can lead this country out of the perils facing us, and he will have the willing and eager help of many Americans in whom he has aroused such strong feelings of cooperation.

Perhaps, just as it happened after Franklin D. Roosevelt's election during the Great Depression, we will soon be singing "Happy Days Are Here Again.