Thursday, November 6, 2008

Gotta take the highs with the lows

I still find that I am elated at the election of Barack Obama as our new President. I see pictures of his acceptance speech in Chicago, and it just brings tears to my eyes. I read an article on Huffington Post and it validated exactly what I was thinking that night. . . he seemed grateful, tired, humble and sad all while maintaining his steadfastness in his belief that we, the American people, are what makes this country great. And he will lead us as a nation to set high standards for ourselves and for the global community. As Oprah said, "Hope won!" And I am VERY hopeful now.

I am also elated that right here in Colorado and in South Dakota voters did not pass amendments which would strip away women's rights, and doctors' rights to take care of them. The implications of how far reaching the law would have been taken had they passed was frightening, indeed. So, good for you Colorado and South Dakota!

And yet, I am holding all of this in the same space of feeling very disappointed at the outcome of the elections in other states. Specifically, I am talking about Florida, Arkansas and California, of all places. Once again, people are being scared into believing that if "the gays" were to be treated like equals (i.e. humans) and given the same constitutional rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, that somehow society will fall apart and before you know it, we might as well let people marry their dogs! Try to follow that logic! 

I like the line of thinking that the Boss said in her blog, that (and I'm rephrasing a bit) in Arkansas, these children who are basically being tossed away like garbage and being thrown into an already overwhelmed Foster Care system are too precious to let unmarried couples adopt. WTF?! Hello?! The F-ing President-elect was raised by a SINGLE MOTHER!!! He went to Harvard F-ing University, no less! Tell me, all you intellectual pro-lifers out there. . . if you had your way and abortions were illegal, who would take care of THOSE unwanted children? Hmmm???

OK (stepping off of my soap box now) Basically, what I wanted to say is that we have had a few setbacks in this election, but overall we are headed in the right direction. Obama won by a landslide, both the House and the Senate are majority Democrat and I think the American people know there is a long road ahead for recovery. Let's not lose sight of the Hope of this campaign. I'm going to link you to Tammy Etheridge's blog. . . she is an amazing writer, and has summarized her feelings better than I can. 

Here's looking to the future.

1 comment:

Laura said...

Very well written Siobhan.