As we watched the election coverage last night, after Obama had been announced as the winner, our phone rang. It was the father of our Danish exchange student, but he wasn't calling for her. He was calling me to congratulate us, as US citizens, on the turnout and result of our election. I usually don't get that involved in politics, but I followed it much closer this year. What has amazed me is how every other country has been strongly in support of Obama. The Danes feared McCain being elected!
I voted for Obama, and am proud to say that I live in a country where I can say who I voted for without fear of persecution. I cried during Obama's acceptance speech last night, not because the candidate I voted for won, but because I heard a sincerity in his words of wanting to overcome the party line divisions and work together as a country - the same theory that this country was founded on. It was also emotional because for the first time in a very, very long time, I saw the United States again as the country we were told as children is was - that ANYONE can accomplish ANYTHING they set their mind to. For so long it has seemed that if you were not an old, white, rich businessman with ties to the oil industry you didn't have a chance of achieving anything. Last night proved, once again, that any of us can achieve what we set out to do - regardless of race, religion or any other factors.
I want to see this country come together as a whole and remember what our forfathers fought for. Read the Declaration of Independence again sometime, it's an eye opener if you haven't read it in awhile.
And remember, regardless of who he or she is, they are only the President. We as a people have the strength to make the changes we want if we will stop fighting with each other and work together.
