Wednesday, November 5, 2008

An Historic Election

I've been reflecting on this bit of history I have been witness to in this presidential election. Barack Obama is our country's first African-American president. While watching coverage of his victory, I have seen people in Martin Luther King Jr.'s church cheering and crying with joy, the streets of Harlem are filled with people celebrating, and Jesse Jackson shed tears over the victory (though that may just be because he wasn't the one elected). It is amazing that we have come so far as a country - from slavery and segregation and prejudice to electing our first black president. President- elect Obama has huge expectations to live up to within our country and around the world. He definitely inspires hope in people and I was impressed that in his campaign victory speech he addressed those do not support him yet, and he will be their president too. I like that and I hope he can bring our country together. It will be interesting to see how he meets the challenge and fulfills his campaign promises.

Last night while watching the election coverage, I saw a bit of new technology that I couldn't believe and wonder if one day our children will feel is commonplace. In the CNN studio in New York, they had a reporter beamed in from Chicago through a hologram. This was accomplished with technology with computers and cameras. It was like the hologram that they have on Star Wars. They also had this huge touchscreen that had percentages of the candidates who were winning in individual states and statistics about the demographics.

I was in the car for four hours yesterday driving the kids to the apple orchard in Flat Rock, NC and listened to NPR the whole way. They were doing specials about the different experiences of people voting around the nation. There were first-time voters, older voters, new US citizen voters, etc. I felt a new respect for our freedom and opportunity to vote in an election that will be fairly counted, not manipulated like in other countries. Also, we have the privilege to vote without fear of retaliation for our choice. I am blessed to live in this free nation and felt a renewed gratitude for this privilege that I have taken for granted.


2 comments:

Tiffany W. said...

Yes, we are blessed indeed!!!

Tracie Frost said...

Amen! I love the story of this election - that 2 generations fron segregation, we have an African American president. Being a southerner whose parents grew up in a segregated South, it is truly inspiring.

Also, fun visitors!! And, had a good laugh at the pic of Paris in the potty :)