Dancing in the Streets

There is a Chinese saying “May you live in interesting times.” Some say this is a blessing and some say it is a curse. I think the one thing we Americans can agree on is that we are certainly living in an interesting time.

History happened last night. Argueably history is always happening. Every day in this country thousands of people are affected by life altering events. My personal history was changed ten years ago on November 4th by the devastating death of my father. November 4th, 2008 history changed locally, nationally and globally. I find it hard to believe that anyone in this country doesn’t feel that their personal history has changed as well.

After 9/11 people literally took to the streets in shock and disbelief and sorrow. I was in second grade when President Kennedy was shot, and while I really didn’t understand what was going on, I could tell it was a cataclysmic event. I couldn’t spell the word but I felt it. I’ve seen news clips from across the nation after the assassination. American citizens were literally walking through the streets like zombies. There was outrage and shock when Martin Luther King was assassinated and again when Robert Kennedy was killed. People took to the streets in violence after the verdict was announced in the Rodney King beating trial.

People took to the streets last night, too. Across this country they were literally dancing in the streets. Right here in Boulder, Colorado there was dancing and singing and shouting. There were tears too, but it seemed they were tears of joy rather than anger or fear or sorrow.

Oprah Winfrey said in an interview yesterday evening, that she hadn’t seen such unity in this country since 9/11. It feels good to be united in jubilation rather than sorrow.

No matter what your personal beliefs, or political affiliations might be, it would be impossible to be impervious to these historical events. People registered and voted in record numbers in this election.  We as a people, as a nation, have spoken. It was the “shout” heard round the world – ‘YES, we can!!!”

 

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