I Am American

Yesterday it brought tears to my eyes to be an American.

Watching the inauguration on a badly lit projection screen in one of my favorite restaurants, I looked at the vast crowd of ant-like people, and I felt so moved by the feeling of unity, that my eyes welled up.  This was far before the speeches and the music, and the poetry.  Before anyone announced anything, all I saw was a crowd.  A group of enthusiastic and hopeful people waiting for the future.  

So many cultures all banded together for this thing we call America, and I would be willing to bet that the words hope and peace were spoken in countless languages throughout the throng.

This is the first time I have ever had enough knowledge and perspective on the world to appreciate the feeling that there is a good president entering office.  Eight years ago I was 13.  At that time politics meant almost nothing to me.  Social issues were nil.  Economy was still just a vocabulary word.  War was something we read about in history books.  I could not vote.  Speeches made me sleepy.  Al Gore was thin.  

Yet, now I am able to make political decisions based on real information and feelings.  Now I feel the need for someone who will speak to my issues.  I know what war can do to the world.  I know what a puppet president can do to national morale.  I have been worn down by the speeches, and the "solutions," and hearing the people around me complain.  That feeling is terrible, and it gives me great hope and inner peace to know that something is going to change, and for the better.  

When I walked outside into the brisk winter air, the sun literally came out from behind the clouds, and I breathed a sigh of relief.  I breathed several.