As I stood in the cardboard booth…
Manipulating the knobs and buttons of the electronic voting machine….
Casting my vote…
I could not have even begun to imagine…
The enormity of what was to come a few hours later…
Tonight…
More than ever before…
I am proud to call myself an American…
Not just because we as a nation…
Abandoned our prejudice heritage…
Not just because this time, we didn’t have to choose between two artificial flavors of the same old recipe… (Two empty suits… Void of vision… and filled with self interest…)
But because this time…
Our vote stood for something more…
Something much more profound…
And much more fundamental…
Tonight…
We voted for America…
Tonight…
We reclaimed our nation…
It will be a while…
Maybe a long while…
Before we truly understand and appreciate the enormity of “decision 2008”…
But what should be evident to every single one us…
As clear as day…
Is that we just witnessed the birth of a new era…
In which every citizen of this country HAS to think, act and feel as responsible as a public servant…
For the victory is not whom we elected…
The victory comes when we-as people-come together to restore our nation…
The victory comes when being a citizen does not mean relinquishing responsibility and tolerating incompetence… (incompetence? Not descriptive enough… How about “outright rape” of a nation?)…
Rather the victory comes…
When we stand up for ourselves, for our families, friends, and neighbors…
When we don’t forget that the government is supposed to be there to "serve" and to "protect us"… and not to dictate how we live or what we have to endure...
That our elected officials are not part of an “untouchable elite”, and rather, our “servants”, our “employees”…
When we refuse to be manipulated like powerless puppets through fear and under the guise of patriotism…
When we “stand up” for ourselves as we did today…
Our responsibility does not end tonight…
It can’t…
We cannot go back to another “4-year hibernation”…
We cannot sit idle when our hard-earned dollars are spent on ever-increasing gas prices under the disguise of demand and supply nonsense while every oil company reports astronomical earnings quarter after quarter…
We cannot sit idle when our tax dollars are spent on bailing out bad businesses and bad business decisions…
We cannot continue to pay CEOs of large corporations for failing…
We cannot be tolerant or merciful when corporations cheat the public, steal from us, and poison our environment…
We cannot allow others to take our focus away from what is really important by continuously bombarding us with propaganda and striking fear into our hearts… We are supposed to be the poster-child of freedom on this planet, and yet, we choose to stay quiet because we are too afraid… Just watch a morning or evening news and count the reasons why you should be afraid that day… Afraid of a new disease because the pharmaceuticals want us to buy yet another useless placebo… And when we decide to take that medicine, our TV tells us a million times day, of the side effects that we should be afraid of… Afraid of an imaginary threat we know absolutely nothing about… Because there is no opportunity for corporate America and Haliburtons of the world to make money if they let our government deal with the real threats… Afraid to travel… Afraid to lose our jobs… Afraid that if we open our minds, read for a change, or god forbid, look outside our own little shallow world, we might find something even bigger to be afraid of… OUR OWN IGNORANCE!!!
We can no longer afford to close our eyes to what goes on in the world and to hide behind our short attention spans and attention deficit disorders…
We can no longer afford to wear the fluffy blind fold and focus our attention and concern to what Brad and Angelina are doing, what happens to Britney in the rehab, or whether Lindsey is gay, straight or both…
We can no longer allow Prozac and Viagra to be the solutions to all of our problems…
The responsibility…
Our responsibility…
Our “renewed” responsibility…
Begins tonight…
It may not be abundantly clear from what I have written tonight…
But I am actually very hopeful…
I am hopeful that what transpired tonight…
And what is ahead…
Will be a catalyst…
To awaken us from our slumber…
To renew our sense of responsibility as citizens…
Tonight…
Our future…
Is in our hands!!!
Tonight...
We have a rendezvous with our destiny...
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I’m also astonished with this year election. Your "2008 Decision" Blog fluently recaps the state of the nation and offers a glimpse of hope for a better future under the new leadership. This election was not only political, but also a “revolution” in American ideology.
ReplyDeleteGreat piece my friend. Keep writing …
kami, thanks for sharing your thoughts. i too think its the beginning of something none of us can even imagine. For the first time i think of america as my home. For the first time i don't feel like someone else is supposed to take care of "THINGS". maybe obama will make all of us grow up a little and take responsibilty for our life and out world!
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