History and inspiration

"Awesome." It's a word that's used a lot, often without any underlying meaning. Last night, as I witnessed a long-overdue historic event for our country, I was reminded of the true meaning and power of that adjective. Barack's acceptance speech was amazing, inspired AND inspiring, and - yes - AWESOME!

In my lifetime, I don't recall hearing a speech that stirred me more . . . since I watched John Fitzgerald Kennedy speak after taking the oath of office on that cold January day in 1961 ("A new generation . . . Ask not what your country can do for you . . .") and, of course, watched Martin Luther King, Jr. deliver the address Barack invoked last night - perhaps the greatest oratorical tribute to peace and unity ever made, at least in the Western tongue. (My favorite passage: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Amen.)

As awesome as it was, I can't wait to hear Barack's inspirational message upon taking his oath of office as President of the United States. It WILL happen. It HAS to happen. We must MAKE it happen! I feel we're on the brink of losing the social, financial and diplomatic progress that this country has made in my lifetime . . . and we've been taken to that brink in just the last eight years. The neoconservative agents of repression and regression have been hard at work, both within and supported by the George W. Bush Administration, in their systematic plan to turn back these gains. And, incredibly and regrettably, they have been very successful with their relentless "scorched earth" (figuratively and literally) agenda.

I'm sending more money to Barack today, and I'm going to do everything I can to try to persuade everyone I can to vote for him and to influence others to do so. I know some of you must feel as passionately as I do about this, so I'm "preaching to the choir." But I had to get my rush of emotions translated to words as best I could while the fire burned its hottest.

YES, WE CAN!