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I woke up today to the sounds of NPR telling me that Kerry had conceded the race to President Bush; that he made a personal phone call to him earlier this morning and said that the President had the race (even though they haven't finished counting--there's no way Kerry could catch up); and also that the country was too divided, too polarized. "We should do something about that," Kerry supposedly said.
My first thought was a hopeless resigned "fuck" sort of thought. My second--god damn my eternal optimism--was a hope that maybe, just maybe, that phone call will be taken to heart. Now that the Republicans have control of the Senate and the House (damnit), we're going to need that olive branch of moderation.
I went to take a shower--which left me cleaner and more awake but not feeling a whole lot better--and came back into the room and pulled up the blinds (for the record, I love the sound they make--that loud skiiiiirish-and-thunk). And it is an utterly gorgeous day outside. A perfect November day--there are actually puffy white clouds in the sky, the sun in shining and glinting off the yellow-gold of the leaves, making bright bounces off the windows of distant campus buildings. And I thought, oh. So the world isn't ending.
It isn't. The days will still be gorgeous--and also rainy and wet and cold--and there is still fabulous theater everywhere, and there is still oatmeal to be eaten and Aristotle to be read. It's not over yet. It's never over.
I was terribly hoping that the Democrats would have control of the House and Senate--it makes for much more interesting, and usually moderate and conciliatory, politics when the President is at odds with them. But they don't. So that means we have to do it. We have to pay attention and read and absorb and for god's sake THINK, please. If someone has thought through their position, their values, their goals and votes--YES. Whatever they voted for. It's the people who don't think, the mindless populous that gets swayed by fear or by rhetoric, that's what really gets to me.
Think, people. Act. Vote. Please. It feels like it's over--but it isn't. It's never over.
My first thought was a hopeless resigned "fuck" sort of thought. My second--god damn my eternal optimism--was a hope that maybe, just maybe, that phone call will be taken to heart. Now that the Republicans have control of the Senate and the House (damnit), we're going to need that olive branch of moderation.
I went to take a shower--which left me cleaner and more awake but not feeling a whole lot better--and came back into the room and pulled up the blinds (for the record, I love the sound they make--that loud skiiiiirish-and-thunk). And it is an utterly gorgeous day outside. A perfect November day--there are actually puffy white clouds in the sky, the sun in shining and glinting off the yellow-gold of the leaves, making bright bounces off the windows of distant campus buildings. And I thought, oh. So the world isn't ending.
It isn't. The days will still be gorgeous--and also rainy and wet and cold--and there is still fabulous theater everywhere, and there is still oatmeal to be eaten and Aristotle to be read. It's not over yet. It's never over.
I was terribly hoping that the Democrats would have control of the House and Senate--it makes for much more interesting, and usually moderate and conciliatory, politics when the President is at odds with them. But they don't. So that means we have to do it. We have to pay attention and read and absorb and for god's sake THINK, please. If someone has thought through their position, their values, their goals and votes--YES. Whatever they voted for. It's the people who don't think, the mindless populous that gets swayed by fear or by rhetoric, that's what really gets to me.
Think, people. Act. Vote. Please. It feels like it's over--but it isn't. It's never over.
