Barack Obama is Bringing American Back
In 2001 I was walking through the hallways of my college campus. I strolled by a group of students who convened around a TV screen set up in the hallway. As I got closer I joined them. There, on the screen, the Twin Towers in NYC burned. Smoke pouring from everywhere, I did not quite understand the severity, or the complexity of the event. No one did. I arrived at my film class and my professor seemed pale, sick almost. Most of us still did not understand. "What happened?" a kid with a Weezer T-shirt asked her. "There's been an attack." She spent most of our class time talking about the shock. From there, like a weird badly written action film, everything unfolded.
We are almost eight years later. Since then I have soared through my twenties. And I have come to terms with what the government has invested its interest in. In 2004 my girlfriends and I gathered to watch the election on TV. When Bush took office again, I felt like a bus had hit me and spent following days depressed. As a matter of fact, everyone around me-on every street corner, on the seat across from me on the train, to the woman who gave me my coffeee-was not quite living. We were zombies. A city full of zombies.
At that point, you kind of give up. If you are a free thinker or someone who relies on rejuvenation or a fresh idea or the hope that your creativity will make some change, defeat like that can feel like someone slams a door in your face. If you are a person of integrity, honesty, and optimism. If you are someone who laughs often, but knows when it is time to get serious and care for your neighbor, well, a defeat like that can even take all dreams away.
The last four years have been sort of like we are living in a hazy dream and someday we might wake up. That is no exaggeration. I wake up every day remembering that we are still at war, that my health insurance company is going to still try not to cover my bills, and that even though we continue to produce films, my husband and I will not be able to receive the proper pay or work that we deserve as we search for jobs that match our skill. Those jobs were the first to go.
When the government is desparate, it oozes into the people. Relationships are strained and we stretch ourselves so thin that George W. Bush can break you in half if he needes to.
When Barack Obama released his first book, Audacity of Hope , I woke up. I realized that it does not take a president to ask for the country back. It takes those of us who give this country our heart and soul. We have to find it within ourselves to be willing to put someone in office who understands its not about him. And someone who certainly knows its not about his friends either.
I watched Obama's speech today. I missed it the first time. So I found it on Youtube and I poured myself some orange juice, curled up in my chair, and clicked PLAY. I have no lingering doubt, no qualm or fear, no second guesses, that Barack Obama will be our next president. I know this because I'm not star struck, I'm not enamoured with the political banter or process. There is none of that. It is about the reality of where we are at, and how far we've regressed during the Bush administration. It's about taking care.
I feel proud to be an American. And you know what, I have never said that. Because American has been a bad word over the last eight years. American has meant wealthy, violent, and distant. American has meant don't look anyone in the eye, we are not in this together. But American is being redefined. By you. And by me. American used to mean that we loved eachother, that we could be what we wanted to be, and that we could respect those who we didn't agree with. Barack Obama is bringing American back.
We are almost eight years later. Since then I have soared through my twenties. And I have come to terms with what the government has invested its interest in. In 2004 my girlfriends and I gathered to watch the election on TV. When Bush took office again, I felt like a bus had hit me and spent following days depressed. As a matter of fact, everyone around me-on every street corner, on the seat across from me on the train, to the woman who gave me my coffeee-was not quite living. We were zombies. A city full of zombies.
At that point, you kind of give up. If you are a free thinker or someone who relies on rejuvenation or a fresh idea or the hope that your creativity will make some change, defeat like that can feel like someone slams a door in your face. If you are a person of integrity, honesty, and optimism. If you are someone who laughs often, but knows when it is time to get serious and care for your neighbor, well, a defeat like that can even take all dreams away.
The last four years have been sort of like we are living in a hazy dream and someday we might wake up. That is no exaggeration. I wake up every day remembering that we are still at war, that my health insurance company is going to still try not to cover my bills, and that even though we continue to produce films, my husband and I will not be able to receive the proper pay or work that we deserve as we search for jobs that match our skill. Those jobs were the first to go.
When the government is desparate, it oozes into the people. Relationships are strained and we stretch ourselves so thin that George W. Bush can break you in half if he needes to.
When Barack Obama released his first book, Audacity of Hope , I woke up. I realized that it does not take a president to ask for the country back. It takes those of us who give this country our heart and soul. We have to find it within ourselves to be willing to put someone in office who understands its not about him. And someone who certainly knows its not about his friends either.
I watched Obama's speech today. I missed it the first time. So I found it on Youtube and I poured myself some orange juice, curled up in my chair, and clicked PLAY. I have no lingering doubt, no qualm or fear, no second guesses, that Barack Obama will be our next president. I know this because I'm not star struck, I'm not enamoured with the political banter or process. There is none of that. It is about the reality of where we are at, and how far we've regressed during the Bush administration. It's about taking care.
I feel proud to be an American. And you know what, I have never said that. Because American has been a bad word over the last eight years. American has meant wealthy, violent, and distant. American has meant don't look anyone in the eye, we are not in this together. But American is being redefined. By you. And by me. American used to mean that we loved eachother, that we could be what we wanted to be, and that we could respect those who we didn't agree with. Barack Obama is bringing American back.
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