A Change Has Come

 Rev. Jesse Jackson, courtesy of the Huffington Post

When I woke my wife this morning, she sleepily asked, “Is Obama still president-elect?” When I assured her he was, according to NPR and all the websites I’d seen so far, she sighed relief. “They didn’t take it away.”

I’m sure there were like-minded individuals that woke up this morning with the same thoughts. “Did this really happen?” “Was it a dream?” And once they wiped the slumber from their eyes and cobwebs from the corners of their head, they realized that it was not a dream anymore.

I know that there are folks on the other side of the coin, too, who woke up with very different feelings. They, like others before them on the day after elections that didn’t go their way, will have to make peace with the fact that their guy lost. Having been one of those others several times in my life, I know it’s not gonna be easy for ‘em for a while. Perhaps that’s why there’s a period of time between election and inauguration, to let people get used to the idea.

Some will be surprised that our president-elect is not really a Muslim. Some may complain that he’s not a socialist like they’d been told. I hope many question their sources of information and become more skeptical, because I have been quite disappointed in the way both sides have been treated during this long, long, LONG election.

I hope that the election of Barack Obama marks an elevation of our national discourse. I hope that it signals a change in how we choose our leaders, not as much of “someone I wanna have a beer with,” but “someone that’s smart enough, tough enough, and strong enough to lead our nation.” I feel that community organizers and community leaders across the country will have just a little more spring in their step as they see one of their own ascend to the highest office in the land. I think that many Americans who have felt disenfranchised or beaten down by the weight of their life will look back on this day as an affirmation of the possibilities of life in the USA.

I am no longer a child, yet I still dream. I still hope. And I’ll continue to hope and dream, and work to make those hopes and dreams come true, because last night I saw a dream become reality for an entire country.