Ezekiel's Daughter

how do I feel about tonight's election?  There are Americans who can not think five minutes into the future.  There are Americans who give up and pull the covers over their head.  And there are those willing to stand in a ditch with their foot on another's neck if it means that their opponent remains in the ditch with them.  Then, of course, there are those who benefit from the fears and ignorance of the aforementioned.  Peace to you all as we  burn and roast languidly in the summer skies.  The atmosphere will not slow us down, but we will provide a show.

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007392

I am of two  minds.

How very strange it is to unfold each morning’s paper and see President-Elect Obama’s face!  Every morning, I find myself smiling.	A reader, on Nov 5th, writes in to say that Obama will set a new low in infamy and scandals.   Once again, I am back to skimming the editorial page.  Fury in the morning hours hurts productivity.
A weight has been lifted that I didn’t know was there.	On Nov 3th, I carried "16 tons" and worked overtime. On Nov 5th, I worked overtime.
Suddenly, I’m not a guest in someone else’s house.  This is also my house.	Is this my house?  Will it ever be?  Maybe I’m the generation that wanders 40 years in the desert.  Maybe my house is the sukkah in the wilderness, frail and open to the sky.

I went to the gym and watched “House” on the monitors.  I could not watch the election.
I went out to the car; called my brother in Texas and groused about the 3.5-hour wait this morning to vote and he told me that Obama was ahead.

Well.

I decided to go back by the fire station and see how the line was.  4 times as long as it was this morning.  The polls had closed.  The state had been called for McCain, but people were still in line.



 
And then the Daily Show announced that Obama was the winner.  I moved over to the real news, and yes.  Raised my hands.  Wished that my parents were here to see this.  My father who went to the back door of many a white man’s home because he wasn’t allowed at the front door.  My mother, the first Black pharmacist in Shreveport.  Back to the Daily Show—what are they going to do for the second hour?  I am sure that they expected it to take longer.   Back to the NBC affiliate.  Blast it!  I don’t want to see Congressman Jefferson!   Back to the CBS affiliate.  And finally back to the Daily Show.  And now here.

I can’t explain what I feel.  There’s lot of work ahead.  I don’t know if people heard Obama’s message of “we”.   

You’ve seen these before:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY



In once respect, Chris Rock was right on his last HBO special.  No overtime work tonight.  I'll be at work tomorrow, but I just can't concentrate on work tonight.