This post is a huge departure for me. I normally use news clips, personal commentary, and spiritual quotes to address the issues of our culture.
I work hard to keep the discussion valid for a global audience even though I live in the United States of America.
Well, today, in America, the news is all political, all presidential, all pervasive…
I’m sitting in my favorite café and will attempt to do some “live” blogging—writing without forethought, as events unfold. I’m not going to cover what’s happening on the TV but what’s happening with the people around me…
Here goes!
It’s quarter to six and the only people in the café are me, a woman getting ready for a Mary Kay meeting in the back room, and Sam, the owner. Sam just said he hopes to finish his work soon so he can sit on the couch, in front of the big-screen TV, and “get involved”…
Another patron arrives and promptly settles on the couch and begins working on his personal letter-writing…
Five till six: Two more patrons, getting ready to play a war-game…
Five after six: Talk is starting to percolate—”when will the pundits start projecting a winner…?”
Sam just made a personal pronouncement about why this election will be a nail-biter: the candidates are so radically different—not politically but as far as their characters are concerned.
{ personal aside: I hope readers in countries other than America will make comments on this post ! }
Five till Seven: Sam is on the couch!
Five after seven: The war-game is heating up and Sam looks happy with the first projections.
{personal aside: the confrontational, partisan rhetoric from the television is starting to get to me…}
Seven-thirty: Both couches inhabited; it’s starting to warm up…
Eight-fifteen: Laptop in use on the couch; spirited discussion begins; the couples playing games start a new one…
Eight-thirty-five: Cell phones in use; discussion tones down…
Nine-ten: Some folks are heading home to sleep; willing to see what happened in the morning…
Nine-thirty: Much discussion of the difference between the various projections of the winner—MSNBC, Fox, Google…
{personal aside: Amazing how excited people can get over media projections…}
Eleven o’clock: Obama projected as winner; one women running outside, cell phone to ear; the rest of the folks look a bit shocked; then, most everyone leaves the cafe…
McCain concedes with impeccable grace while his followers shout rude comments, Jesse Jackson in tears, and three people remain in the café…
Obama gives acceptance speech…
My enduring impression will be the blending of skin color on the stage and the hope of human harmony as Joe Biden joins him and the two families stream in while Mr. Obama clearly shows how humbled he feels to be elevated to a position of leadership in our crisis-riddled world…
Spiritual Quote:
“…the breeding-ground of all these tragedies is prejudice: prejudice of race and nation, of religion, of political opinion; and the root cause of prejudice is blind imitation of the past—imitation in religion, in racial attitudes, in national bias, in politics. So long as this aping of the past persisteth, just so long will the foundations of the social order be blown to the four winds, just so long will humanity be continually exposed to direst peril.”
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 247
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I am not specially politicaly inclinded.I would like to make this comment,without offending any one,you block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith.Life is a gest,and all things show it,I thought so onces,and now I know it,or do you wish to undertake the struggle that consists of rising ledge to ledge in a steady ascent to the top,a struggle where hardships are investments in your future,and the victories bring you irreversibily closer to the world of your moral ideal,and should you die without reaching full sunlight,you will die on a level touched by its rays.Also Wealth has never yet sacreficed itself on the alter of patriotism.
Catherine,
Your comment reminds us all that moral strength is worth whatever sacrifice it takes to maintain.
Here in Ireland, what I witnessed was a great delight in America’s new possibilities, the potential for unity. I’ve been absent a lot, busy and not able to check in much, but it was good to read this post, Alex. Thank you for sharing the experience.
Imelda,
Yes! Now, we’ll see if Mr. Obama can actually facilitate the changes he talks about….