Something happening here

[hakkinen]

Something is happening here. No matter the outcome
Today, we've all
been changed simply by being here now. We have thrown our
hearts and our
brains and our guts and our constantly shrinking
pocketbooks into creating
change in our country. This is our moment. Now is our
time.



We are lucky - some might say blessed - to have an
opportunity to cast a
vote for one of the smartest, most articulate, hard
working, caring men in
the history of our country.



This is what I know.



Barack Obama embodies everything I want in a leader: a deep
intellect; a
steady-as-he-goes demeanor; a listener who will not only
seek out those who
disagree, but will truly hear what they have to say; a
communicator who
can string sentences together like pearls and make my heart
do flip flops
out of sheer joy in the message and beauty of its delivery.
An honest man
who works for the underdog. A good father, and a gentle
husband, with a
gorgeous knee-knocking smile.



I am blown away by the vast number of people involved in
our movement for
change. More people are helping Senator Obama become
president of our
country than ever in the history of the universe. This is
not politics as
usual.



We are professors, teachers, bankers and social workers.
We are nurses,
doctors, ministers and rabbis. We are Joe six pack, and
Joe the plumber and
hockey moms and soccer coaches and high school students.
We work the night
shift and the day shift and sometimes both. We own
businesses and we work on
assembly lines. We are black and white and everything
in-between. We sit
around our kitchen counters and drink coffee and eat pie
and work together
to create the change we wish to see in our world.



The mass of human connectedness that has exploded around
this candidate is
crazy new.



There has never been a time in the history of our earthly
experience that so
many people have felt compelled to let their hope leak into
their artistic
expression and spread it around the world.



On blogs, and youtube videos, on radio and tv, we hear new
renditions of old
songs, heart-bruising personal stories of loss
and hope,
awe-inspiring tales of courage from people willing to admit
they have been
wrong before and that this time they'll get it right.
On buttons, bumper
stickers, billboards and in children's play, hope is
breeding imagination.



We are living on a fault line of history. Seismic change
is taking place.
Words like "transformative,"
"unprecedented," "last best chance,"
"brilliant and humble," sprinkle the narrative of
our discourse. There is a
spiritual quality to this moment.



As we look back at this time from a distant vantage point,
some of what is
out of focus today will become obvious. As the influence
of spin doctors
after every utterance of a candidate retreats into the
past, and historians
begin to shift our perspectives and write our present as
chapters in history
texts, there will be no disagreement on one thing: these
are historic times.
Something happened here.



And if by some fluke, or some crime, or some sad reality,
Barack Obama is
not elected today, we will teach our children to cry
out loud in front
of others because that is what strong, committed, caring
people do. And
then we'll teach them what it means to get up the next
morning, roll up our
sleeves and get back to work on making America great.



Donna Rich Kaplowitz
East Lansing, MI