From Harlem to Harvard, from Maine to Hawaii—and even Alaska—from "the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire … [to] Stone Mountain of Georgia," as Dr. King put it, each of us will always remember this moment, as will our children, whom we woke up to watch history being made.
Last night was an emotional one for me and our nation as a whole. It is hard to find words with enough weight to express those emotions that run so deep they leave you speechless. Many Americans were aware that the movement led by Barack Obama was so much more than an election campaign; The magnitude and gravity of its results run deeper than what four or eight years in the White House can encompass. Gloria Steinem spoke on The Oprah Show today and her words reverberated what is in my heart.
"I feel as if I got my future back in a funny way, because I was in my 30s when I thought my country was moving toward democracy, and then two Kennedys were killed and then Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, and it's as if the future died. Now I feel as if our future has come back and in an even better form because the Kennedys and Clintons tried to be inclusive, but this isn't about being inclusive. It is the thing itself. It is actually happening."
I always felt a bit envious of the older generation; They seemed to stand for so much and have lived a history, albeit excruciating at times to endure, full of passion, hope, and triumph. They stood for something and revered their beloved heroes. Sadly, I feel, my generation lacked that intangible surge that unifies, ignites, and stimulates change. Perhaps this is why so many of us became obsessed with material possessions and fell prey to far too many of the distractions that have only served to kill our spirits and led us down a path of apathy and relativism.
It means so much to me that our child will be born at this historic time. A new child naturally brings about hope and dreams for a better life and future. What parent does not imagine a life for their child which is filled with unconditional love, success, little strife, and interminable hope for the future? It is natural for us to want our children to go through life unscathed by the heartaches we may have endured ~ both big and small. We pray we will be better parents than our own; Or we pray that we can live up to being the parents ours were if we were blessed to have such parents. We realize, however, that all the idealism in the world cannot protect our children from heartache and strife. In the end, our greatest prayer, is that they have learned something from our own mistakes and perhaps even learned something from our achievements. We pray that when heartache and strife inevitably knock on their door...they have faith, courage, and perhaps above all ~ hope. It feels only fitting to quote Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in saying "If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all."
November 4, 2008 was indeed an historic night. Our child will be born in an historic year and I pray with all of my heart that he or she lives out the dreams that God weaves in his or her heart and that despite heartache and strife...hope remains perched on his or her spirit.
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