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.
8 comments:
Danedogg,
I too have been disappointed at the display of classlessness during this election. We had someone basically tell us that because we supported Obama and his policies we didn't understand the Gospel. Wow. Sadly, I'm fairly certain they didn't actually understand the specific Obama policy they were talking about. That said, I'm fine if you don't agree with Obama or his policies, but don't insult my intelligence and get the facts right before you talk. Amazing. To top it off, we had someone post an Obama-bashing comment on our blog anonymously. If you're going to bash Obama, at least have the guts to take credit it for it. What a joke.
Scott
I wouldn't say the comment on our blog was Obama bashing... more disagreement with his tax policies and not understanding that we never really have a huge say in where our tax monies go.
With that corrected I say hats off to your post. I agree with your history teacher 100%! I am excited to come to lecture with you next week and hope that we can all unite as Americans but also that we can come to realize that we can make a difference in our country and our government! I think so many people (and I am as guilty as the next guy) just sit back and don't become involved: don't write letters to senators, congressmen, local leaders, etc., until something really huge like Prop. 8 comes up. We should always be involved.
Terrific post Dane!! I agree with you about both Election Day speeches. I heard one commentator state that he thought Obama's was a bit longer and more serious than it needed to be. I disagreed on the basis that we live in serious times and we need leaders who are serious about moving forward and dealing with the challenges we face. Despite the festive atmosphere Tuesday night, it WAS Election Day and NOT New Year's Eve.
God Bless America!
Aunt Beth
I think one important thing that needs to be restated is what Joe Biden said in the vice-presidential debate. Its okay to disagree with someone's policies, but never question a person's motives. That is the problem when emotions get involved (like they have in a lot of blogs and other conversations) is that people start acusing others and questioning their motives. We all want this country to be better and most of us have a different idea of how it should be done.
Great post though Dane. Very impressive.
Dane-
I almost shed a tear! Seriously. I definitely fall into the category of those who get heated with some of the blog posts and contributing my 2 cents that probably wasn't even wanted. However, even across the ocean, I felt the magnitude of the moment on Wednesday morning (for us) and I have been on a high ever since. The Zurich daily newspaper had a 4 page spread on the new president and Switzerland's reaction (positive). I'm proud to be an American, and am happy that there are people like you and your professor who can give a different perspective to many who have a hard time seeing beyond the box. Bravo.
Excellent post Dane. I agree it is time for us to all come together and work for unity. Having said that, I am on the winning side and it is a lot easier to say, "let's move on." I have told many before the election that I will be very dissappointed if President Obama isn't the best US President in my lifetime. There are issues I don't agree with Obama and probably never will, but overall, I feel, he has the intelligence, humility, perserverence, insight and temperment to be a great leader.
The thing I see with members of the Church that are so right wing and republican they can't look at both sides of the issues, is they either don't understand or choose to ignore the principle of free agency. Forcing people to do right was Satan's plan for humankind.
All said, God please bless President-elect Obama and bless the United States of America and the World.
Dad/Bill
Well said Dane! Glad you are enjoying your history class and that you have a good teacher - it really makes a difference.
Stuart and I are Obama supporters and are pleased with the results; however, we were not pleased with ignorant biases and judgmental views.
Having different opinions is what makes this country good and respecting those differences is what makes this country great.
Not sure how many of you saw McCain on Jay Leno last night. I thought it was a nice tribute from Leno to invite him as his sole Veteran's Day guest. Over all, the tone was light vs. serious. One that stayed with me was McCain said he'd been sleeping like a baby since the election, i.e., sleep two hours, wake up and cry, sleep two hours, wake up and cry, etc. That got a good laugh.
Leno had also extended special audience invitations to members of the armed forces. Looked to be about half the audience.
Aunt Beth
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