Wednesday, January 21, 2009

And So It Goes


What a wonderful day, yesterday; what feelings the whole day evoked in me. We awoke to a yard covered in snow, flakes gently falling down, everything crisp and clean and new and hopeful.

And then we watched the inauguration....crisp and clean and new and hopeful.

People in Smallville, which I think is a Blue Town in a Red County in a Red State, were genuinely pleased about President Obama. Even my boss at work, a staunch Republican-misogynist-money-grubber--is that redundant?--if there ever was one, was timidly hopeful. He said he loved the speech, loved the crowds, loved to feeling in the air. Of course, he said it looked more like a coronation than an inauguration, but.......pfffft.

So I am feeling hopeful. Especially upon seeing the changes to the White House website regarding the LGBT community. I somehow feel included in a way that I never have before; like I matter; like I'm a little bit 'less than' to the new administration, even if some in this country still seek to keep people down. The tide is changing I think.

Carlos and I watched all of it; songs, speeches, poems, the little thumbs up Sasha gave her Dad as he prepared to take the oath. It was all so inspiring, in a way I have never felt watching an inauguration....and I have seen several, many, some I liked, some that made me cringe, but none like this one.

I lay my head on my pillow last night, reliving those words I heard and loved:

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
Hope now; no fear, unity over conflict. I slept so peacefully.
This morning I checked my email, and there was on from a member of my family who shall remain anonymous....oh hell no......it was from my Uncle Johnny, a devout Republican, who never ever ever saw the atrocities of government committed by.....by....what is his name, that last guy who was president. Oh well. My uncle sends out an email in which he says:
well we're off to a good start.. Wall street suffered the worst inaugural day loss ever. good go
President Obama has been in office about nineteen hours when my uncle sent out his little angry missive. Nineteen hours. He has his work cut out for him if there are people like my uncle out there; people who don't believe in hope, who didn't pay attention to these last eight years, except for the capital letter R behind W's name. That R was all important, and now that there's a D up there, he won't be happy.
Some people just don't get it. And they never will.

5 comments:

  1. Yeah, Daughter and I cruised the radio channels on our way to tutoring and were surprised that the conservative hosts were already complaining!!! It was like an hour after the speech! It's okay to disagree but you gotta have *something* to disagree about. And the markets - well, excuse me, but aren't we going through a ROUGH patch?!?!??!

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  2. Some people just can't be happy. Some can't accept no matter what. Those usually go the way of the dinosaurs.

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  3. What amazes me about these people is that they use material which isn't even factual or logical, and simply ignore real facts to state their cases. That they have nothing to argue is exasperating. Educated people! Wost of all, lying doesn't bother them. I love David's response on another post..."make da baby Jeebus cry"
    xoxocharlie

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  4. Obama hit the ground running by ordering that Gitmo be closed within the year, the lobbyist rule, the salary freeze for over $100K White House staff, and the transparency of government memo. I have so much hope now and feel so good about our country!

    Some of those people will complain and lie and be ignorant no matter what.

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  5. I am hopeful, even optimstic, too. I don't think things will improve overnight, but soon.

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