My version of the America Dream

This election had another strange effect on me and it related to my version of the American Dream. It has taken a little while to figure out how to talk about it. But I thought of it after writing about the election. I have been fighting major depression for several years. Late this summer many things came to gather that broke through my depression. Some of the things were medical, some were based on the work I have been doing in my therapy, some were spiritual and all of those things have lead to a lot of personal growth. But one thing major thing happened that brought all the other things to a head, the nomination of a little known governor from Alaska to the office of Vice-President. In my life it was a powerful as an electric shot. It broke through all that fog of depression and brought me back to life. Where had I been? How did this happen?

That was my dream in 6th grade, not to be Vice-President, but President of the United States, My doctor told me that age 12, is a time of life when we know what we can do. I like the way it sounds.
I couldn't believe it, here was Sarah Palin living my dream. I certainly had not given her permission to steal my dream.
This was an interesting phenomena, see Hilary Clinton had never struck this chord. I believe this was true because there was Bill. No matter how talented and capable she is, no one knows where she would have ended up on her own. Sarah Palin was there on her own. It made me mad. That's all I can say. Obviousily, John McCain just didn't now about me.

Maybe the truth is that any of us could be President.

So as strange as it may seem, this election awoke in me my own version of the American Dream.
It brought me back to life in a quick and strong way. And I owe it to Sarah Palin. We will see what I do with it.

2008 Elections & the American Dream

Last night was one of my proudest moments as an American. I would like to hope that I would have felt that way regardless of my political leanings. First, aren't we all grateful that we knew the results by 9:30 (central time) instead of the end of December. I am not sure we could have stood another prolonged election. And this is going to make the transition so much better.

One of my favorite things I heard last night, and there were several similar comments from different correspondents, that people overseas could hardly believe that the same country that could elect George Bush 8 years ago, could elect Barack Obama this year. (Oh. no, I am going to have to learn to spell his name.) Don't you just love America? I think that whether you supported him or not, we all were in a place where we needed to be reminded that the American dream was still alive. Isn't it powerful, that while it maybe not be exactly our unique version of the dream, we saw it in action last night? And we saw it on the faces in the crowd that for the first time, many people could finally believe in their own version of the dream. And the world said, maybe there is something to this democracy stuff.

As I listened to President-elect Obama speak, and I have to admit that I enjoy hearing him speak, I started thinking about how this election validated so many lives and deaths. Have you been to Arlington National Cemetery? Of every thing you learn during the tour, the facts that stayed with me the most is that we lost more men during the civil war than all the other wars we have taken part in. It broke my heart. What we lost in that war. And now we have told the world what we learned, and now we can all say that those lives were not given in vain. Nor was the deaths of Abraham Lincoln, or Martin Luther King or the men and women of all colors who stood or sat for what was right in the 60's.

If Obama wasn't your choice, I hope you will give him a chance. If you didn't have a chance to listen to his speech, it is available on the web in both print or video.

Hope is better than fear