Let the healing begin...

I cannot express how deeply I feel about this win for Barack Obama. It really goes beyond words. This has been the most divisive election in my lifetime. I have felt strongly in the past at presidential elections, but never like this. I truly would have wanted to leave our great country if we, as a nation, continued in the Bush legacy. If we had voted to have a man who ran one of the dirtiest campaigns ever, despite the promise not to, with a running mate clearly not up to the challenge of being a vice president in unprecedented times, would have won, I would have wanted to look elsewhere for my remaining years. Me! Someone who have always said we need to fix what is wrong, not run, would have wanted to leave. Me! Someone who has voted in every election since I was allowed to vote. That is how disenfranchised I felt over the last eight years. How dispirited. How sad. How disgusted, as I watched our country gutted like the moose Sarah Palin shot from a helicopter, or plane, or whatever. That one act probably epitomized my feelings - a metaphor for what was happening in our country and world. A woman, no less, killing a great animal, not for food in all probability, but for the sport of it. And with the advantage of running it down, not on foot, but in a plane. Man, that says it all. 

I have fought, and been very disappointed in my friends, my family. I could not imagine how they could have been the people I love, and still not see what I saw. Another four years of inadequacy, blinded by ambition, of people who would elevate the unintellectual, divisive, angry Republican neo-conservatism to epic proportions. How could they not see that? These people that I knew so well, and agreed with, on most other things. The booing at McCain's very nice concession speech in Arizona showcased a lack of grace by many in the crowd. Even he seemed embarrassed for them.

But it was clear by the unbelievable numbers of voters that I was not alone. The majority of voters felt exactly as I did. And, for that, I am so very grateful.

Now it is time to heal. It is time to move forward, and come together, as a nation, as a family, and as friends. We need everyone working together, to face the incredible obstacles in our path. I know President Obama has that intention. And intention is the first step. But we all need to have the same intention. We need to focus on each other, our communities, and our great nation. We need to make sacrifices. Yes, sacrifices. History has taught us that rebuilding our country takes sacrifice. We will need to give up our consumer-based mentality to focus our energy on clean fuel and energy sources, which I believe will be the thing that will bring us out of the economic hole we are in. Our country is deeply in debt. Not just economically, but spiritually. It is time to pay. But it is also a time to start valuing what is really important. And that is ourselves and each other. Let the healing begin.