AMERICA'S NEW HOPE
" The People have spoken!" Never in recent memory have those words been more meaningful after an election to a country still reeling from the eight year disaster that has been the Bush- Cheney administration. For in one twenty- four hour period we have been transformed from an America filled with frustration, mistrust of government, and fear, to an America—and a world, openly celebrating a new sense of hope with a new leader at the helm—Barack Obama. By voting this slender, bi-racial, highly intelligent man into office, America has taken a giant step towards finally realizing the ideology hammered out by the founding father's over 200 years ago. However, it's no secret that the elite group of lawyers, statesmen, and gentleman planters assembled in that steamy Philadelphia courtroom were torn by the immorality of chattel slavery versus the financial expediency of maintaining the status quo.
You see, the "United States of America" originated as an idea. One that so energized the national population that they were willing to fight Mother England and die for it. But once it's founding principles were committed to paper via the Declaration of Independence, it created an unspoken challenge to all Americans to live up to its precepts. This struggle has continued down through the generations accompanied by such Union threatening calamities as internal and international wars, banking collapses, depression, racially charged civil unrest, and terrorist attacks. But, almost divinely, in the darkest of hours throughout our history,out of our diverse ranks would come the right man at the right time to deal with each delimma. Yes, we are the country that produced an Abe Lincoln, a Fredrick Douglass, a Harriet Taubman, an FDR, a Harry Truman,(who finally desegregated the military), a Dwight Eisenhower, a JFK, an RFK, a Lyndon Johnson, a Martin Luther King, and now, a Barack Obama.Some of these gave their lives for the struggle, but all of them shared one thing in common: a unique ability to communicate to the masses their vision of the America we need to be, where the arms of freedom and equality truly embrace every living citizen---- and their ability to replace the climate of fear in crisis with a renewed sense of hope, and a plan to correct the nation's ills.
Going out amongst people the Wednesday after the election, I noticed a definite change in the air. People were talkng to one another, and there seemed to be a great sense of relief and hopefulness. No one expects everthing to be corrected overnight, but that feeling that anything is possible, like we had during the JFK years when I was growing up in the 60's, (and that we thought we would never experience again after all the horrific assasinations), is BACK. I was among the many people shedding tears of joy, thinking about my deceased parents and how they would have loved to see this moment. Thinking about the war veterans, holocaust survivors, civil rights pioneers and all those whose stories are interwoven into the history and fabric of America. Thinking of those who made the ultimate sacrifice with their lives (there is no higher form of patriotism)---Thinking of those who finally realized that their going out to vote is another form of patriotism and that being a part of the process of changing leadership that has failed the people is one of the greatest gifts of living in a democcracy. And finally, thinking that at last, EVERY American parent—black, white, jewish, native american, hispanic, asian, etc.---can look into the eyes of their children, male and female, and say:.."If you work hard enough, you can become anything you want when you grow up!"
So, Godspeed, president elect Barack Obama. You have a monumental task before you. But I am confident that your gift of inspiring us all to work with each other and do our part in family and community, will guarantee your success—which is ultimately OUR success as a people and a nation.
Robert S. Lyle Nov. 7th 2008