There is a marked difference in the “feeling in the air” since Tuesday night’s election results. I am feeling more hopeful than ever. I think that the country will soon head in the right direction and I have to pray that the scandals that have plagued previous administrations will not be a part of this one, with a young family in the White House.

We always look to our leaders, at every stage in our lives, and in every capacity, to do what they should do to lead us. Smart leaders are intuitive. They really listen to their constituents, and they try to change situations for the better, and sometimes with innovative approaches.

Too often, we get mired down with the Old Guard who can’t go right, and can’t go left, and can’t get out of their own way. The prophetic Bob Dylan sort of described what I mean in his song, “The Times They Are A Changin’.”

Amid all of this rhetoric of hope and change, “the dark side” has reared its ugly head via some despicable sites on the Internet. I had no idea, before now, that our new president is not considered to be “a brother” by some African-Americans. It seems to be a kind of reverse discrimination brought on by the president-elect’s mixed racial background. Bad enough for a preacher to have commented on this, but even worse are the utterances of malicious hatred by him toward the man who was chosen by the majority of Americans. This self-proclaimed “anointed,” “man of God,” preacher, is full of rage and hatred, spewing forth his Internet words from behind a banner that says, “Jesus is Love.”

Just when we think we have come so far, we find that there are still tensions in the world caused by hate. Even if you do not believe in God, you would have to be aware of the sheer forces of evil that are present in daily life. Most of us would prefer not to acknowledge evil, or to confront it, but evil does not go away just because it is ignored.

As for me, I have decided to try to re-focus on more positive things. Knowing that the war(s) are more likely to end quickly than they might have otherwise, is a source of satisfaction. With our new president, we can have the hope that officials will be working on solving problems. As to individual hate-mongers, or preacher-led bands of “pockets of resistance” against Obama who won the election, fair and square, well, I suppose we have no control over the misguided. I will pray that they see the light that they already claim to have seen.

There is a lot right about America. There is also a lot wrong. We can only lead by example and try to do the best we can, everyday. We can quit the excuses and quit the blame-game and have more tolerance for people who are less gifted, perhaps, than we are. We have to realize that the reality of our common human experience is that we all have only one day at a time to live, as that is all that is given. We cannot even take that much time for granted.

Meanwhile, we should all strive to do the best we can, forgiving ourselves when we err, and making sure that others know that we accept them and their human frailties, too. While I prefer dogs due to their unconditional, all-accepting, and non-judgmental nature, I put up with a few people, once in a while. A new dog in the White House is a terrific idea! There is something refreshing about the thought. Yes, Happy Days Are Here Again!

Patricia Cummings

This entry was posted on Friday, November 7th, 2008 at 2:38 am and is filed under , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.