Now that the election is over, I feel a slight degree of relief. I have felt confusion and sometimes frustration to hear people's misconceptions, unkindness and lack of tact. People that I have respected have essentially made fools of themselves trying to make their opinions known. At times though, a ray of sunlight has shown through this darkness. People have kindly expressed their opinions, even if they expressed opinions I didn't agree with. Others have tried to bring out the kindness in others by asking them to say one nice thing about the Presidential Candidate that they weren't voting for.
My intention in this post is to tell of the good that has come from the campaigns.
Today in my American History class, my teacher allowed fifteen minutes to discuss the election from the day before. I love this teacher, and I admire her for her ability to convey history without coming across as biased. She started the conversation by telling of her upbringing in rural Mississippi. She is now likely between 55 or 60, so she grew up in the thick of segregation. She told horrifying stories of lynchings, and told of the day to day life in a segregated world. Then, without telling us which candidate she leaned towards, she told our class of the magnitude it is that America had just elected an African-American president. This was highlighted by the fact that we are in the middle of the slavery lectures in our class. She told of Jesse Jackson (A man I don't entirely respect and who also wasn't of the greatest help to Senator Obama in his race) and how he was in the heart of the Civil Rights movement and how he was present when MLK Jr. was assassinated. Then she told us how he was weeping at Senator Obama's acceptance speech, and what that must have meant to him.
She told of the humility it took for John McCain to concede and give the speech he did. If you haven't heard his Conceding speech, please watch it. She told how important it is to do what both candidates made clear in the speeches Tuesday night...we need to unite as Americans. Our voice can still be heard. She emphasized that it is time to abandon the "adolescent tendencies" that a lot of people adopt. (I couldn't agree more with that statement!) She also made it clear that as students of history, we (and this includes all who are reading this post) need to rely on RELIABLE news sources. NOT youtube, and definitely not biased news sources. She referred us to watch the Lehrer news hour, and stated it as a reliable, non-biased news source that uses respectful Political Analysts that respect other peoples opinions.
Lastly, she called on us as her students to support the man that has been voted in as our new President. To transition to my opinion now, I whole heartedly believe Barack Obama's promise "to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your president too." I also appreciated when he said "I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree." In my personal opinion, Senator Obama made a great speech with a lot of promises to every American. Most importantly, he promised to listen to us. I hope that every American sees that Senator Obama intends to listen. What an important thing to have in this free country of ours.
May I say "hats off" to both candidates for excellent Election Day speeches. Hopefully we will see more of the respect among the American people that was shown to us by Senators Obama and McCain tuesday evening.
