The Next Chapter

Like mil­lions of other peo­ple, around the world, I feel as if I’ve wit­nessed some­thing his­toric. I watched the broad­cast of President-Elect Obama’s speech to the throngs of peo­ple in Grant Park in Chicago (and again, around the world) from a nearby house near False Creek, with peo­ple who I don’t know that well, but now with whom I share a com­mon bond of sorts. I took a photo of the tele­vi­sion, just as Obama was about to speak to the crowd. I guess this is one of those moments you remem­ber for the rest of your life.

Con­grat­u­la­tions, USA.  For the first time in a long time, I am proud to be an Amer­i­can. Now, let’s get to work

The Last Few Hours of Holding Our Breath

So here we are, watch­ing the US elec­tion, this time from out­side the coun­try (and as if every­thing else weren’t so bizarre, that sit­u­a­tion is also a first time for Pam and me).

I’ve writ­ten less about pol­i­tics than I used to, partly because life went on to other things, and I felt that I was just get­ting angry most of the time. While I am thrilled at the prospect of Barack Obama actu­ally becom­ing Pres­i­dent (there, I’ve writ­ten it), I’m also too well acquainted with dis­ap­point­ment (Hey, this morn­ing I learned that I didn’t get yet another job inter­view I was hop­ing to get.), so I’m unwill­ing to com­pletely assume the best outcome.

That said, while I write this, I am lis­ten­ing to Obama’s speech and inter­view when he vis­ited Google in 2007, and he’s smart, well informed, inter­ested in tech­nol­ogy, and inspir­ing. When shown a net­work map of the world, rather than being daz­zled by the lights of the con­nected coun­tries, he was spurred on by the dark­ness of the dis­con­nected world, such as the con­ti­nent of Africa, to press for how we can fix that sit­u­a­tion. That is a World Leader I want to see in charge:

What a strange feel­ing it would be to actu­ally admire the Amer­i­can Pres­i­dent instead of despise him. I’m so used to apol­o­giz­ing for my coun­try that it might be a switch to actu­ally be proud of it. I’m happy at the prospect of such a prob­lem. Given that the polls haven’t even opened yet, it’s a, what’s the word? Oh yes, an auda­cious hope.