Thoughts After An Election

It was an exciting time watching the results pour in on TV last night. It was also conflicting for me, as I really do like both candidates personally. I've felt for some time that our two choices were both excellent candidates, qualified in different ways. I've defended both Obama and McCain to different people (devil's advocate?) over the last several months and last night it hit me that the road was ending for one of them. As the night wore on, it became more and more obvious that McCain would come up with the short end of the stick. When the official announcement was made, it was bittersweet for me. I was excited about an historic election. My grandchildren will probably ask me some day what it was like to elect the first black President of the United States the same way I wonder what it was like to listen to Martin Luther King's Dream Speech. But, I admit that when McCain took that stage to give his concession speech, a tear fell as I watched the dream end for this man of honor.

As someone who is now completely addicted to Facebook, I also kept tabs on my friends "status reports", an area where all of my friends can write a blurb about themselves and I view the whole thing on one page. It was interesting to view the polarizing thoughts. Some cheered and leapt for joy; others were disgusted and declared that our country as we know it is over! I know for the next several days and weeks there will probably be hostile feelings. My hope, though, is that in time we can all come together as a nation, the UNITED States of America! No, things won't be perfect and we can and should all stay just as involved and invested in what our government is doing as we are right now. But hopefully we can all move forward, now, together.