Nov 04 2008
Attitude and Change
I woke up this morning feeling change in the air. Almost like the sweet aroma of the first spring breeze, I could sense it. A new day and filled with promise. I spoke to one of my dearest friends today. Our children grew up together and we have been there for each other through divorces, new relationships as well as the challenges of being an entrepreneur and starting our businesses while being a mom.
She shared her dismay about attitudes of those who feel that the election is “no big deal,” and that it doesn’t really matter anyway because nothing will change. That kind of defeatest attitude is so sad to me. It can permeate throughout a person’s whole being and affect every part of one’s life, not just the election.
I am not naive enough to think that a new president will suddenly be able to fix all the horrible problems that feel like a dark cloud over our country. But to have the most liberal senator become president, is a change on the deepest energy levels, and will begin positive ripples of hope immediately. The only thing better, from my point of view, is if it had been Hilary, and I could have seen a woman in that post of leadership.
Well done, Kaya. You’re absolutely right.
I think this is a great moment, a real turning point in this country’s (and world) history. For one thing, the exodus of the Bushies and all that they stand for will restore some of the much-needed respect and admiration that we lost in the world over the past eight years. Like, a worldwide “Whew!” and “America is back!” America was loved for Possibility itself, and it all went in the tank.
Secondly, can you imagine what it feels like to be an African-American tonight? Oh my gosh. It’s almost too big to imagine, let alone feel (maybe akin to what I’d feel if Hillary had won, but not really).
I’d love to know who this person is who sees the election as “no big deal.” They should go outside once in a while.
And about Hillary, I’m with you. Here’s what Gabriel Garcia Marquez (he wrote what’s considered to be one of the great books of the 20th century, One Hundred Years of Solitude) said in a 1992 issue of Time: “The only new idea that could save humanity in the 21st century is for women to take over the management of the world. I believe that male hegemony has squandered an opportunity of 10,000 years. We men have belittled and ridiculed feminine intuition, and on the other hand, we have historically sanctified our ideologies, almost all of them absurd or abominable. The masculine power structure has proved that it cannot impede the destruction of the environment, because it is incapable of overcoming its own interests. For women, on the other hand, preservation of the environment is a genetic vocation. The reversal of powers is a matter of life or death.”
The fact of Hillary Clinton in the White House would have changed everything overnight, but not necessarily in visible or cataclysmic ways that would be easy to detect right away. I do think that with her as POTUS, every male head of state in the world (hmm, that would be almost everyone) would, on the day after the election, be a little discombobulated about how to even think about it, let alone act. And that would be a good thing I think.
Anyway, thanks for the posting, Kaya! Welcome to our new world (which is new every day anyway, if we have our eyes, ears and hearts open).
CT
I went to sleep with a sense of optimism I hadn’t felt in a very long time. It is energizing to see a young, intelligent leader take over, who is not part of the Republican old boy network. I believe he will create bipartisan teams to get us out of the mess of the last eight years. MUCH work ahead but I’m optimistic that it can be done.
I hope everyone will start to believe that their votes and ideas count.
Caroline, that’s a great quote and I think I need to re-read that book! Yes- each day is a new world, but today it feels a bit more hopeful! And as Rhoda shared, even if people begin to believe again that is huge.
Here is a wonderful video someone sent me this morning.
http://www.wisdombook.org