hope and change

I sat watching Obama's speech on the news today and it only just hit me now, the impact of this event.

Today will be remembered by generations of people all over the world as historical. And we have the privelege - nay, the honour - of standing back, when we're old, watching new generations as they grow and live, and being able to say, with truth, "I was there."

I watched, and I hoped for justice.

I couldn't vote, and so I didn't care. But now I know we all should care. This will change the world.

What happens next is irrelevant. Tonight, we live for today.


Someone on /r9k/ said that MLK should have been here to see today's election: He'd have been 79. What a picture that would be, Obama hugging Martin Luther King.
But he's gone now, and that's not our fault. We can't change the past, but we can change the future. We can't erase the mistakes of our forefathers, but we can help to heal the wounds of hate.

Obama said many things I agree with. America has a long way to go yet before we can truly celebrate. The economy has had its worst days since the Great Depression. War is erupting everywhere. Countries are seceding, and people are dying in the streets to help or hinder it. But there is still hope.

He is indeed a powerful speaker. As I watched the speech I felt my heart rise in my chest. Usually this only happens when I hear or read something I am truly passionate about. But until today, although I hoped Obama would win, I didn't pay much attention. It didn't concern me. I wasn't in that country. But this affects all of us. And I felt that feeling. The feeling that I matter. Even though I couldn't vote, I'm a part of all this. Obama wasn't speaking to the country. He was speaking to the people. The people of the world. He spoke of hope. A hope that, in these dark times, few Americans would have thought about.


Someone on /r9k/ said that now, she, an African-American woman, should no longer be the victim of prejudice, because she is capable of achieving the highest position in the world. She should no longer have to put up with the stares when she goes out with her white boyfriend, because 'if a mixed-race couple can create the president of the United States, my children can be the next Einstein'.



When we're 106 years old, what change will we see?

We will be able to sit back and say: "I was there."