— Harry Emerson Fosdick
I don’t think I can write anything too useful today, or at least not this morning. I am too moved still….overwhelmed.
For the first time in a long time I feel proud to be an American. For the people who know me, that is a profoundly large statement. With the start of the 2nd war in Iraq, I was in disgust and moved to Europe, embarrassed to be a citizen of a nation lead by a war-mongering, oil-baron idiot. I was done with America. Eventually I got over it and moved back in 2006, but still with a deep shame regarding the state of our country and how the world outside of the U.S. viewed us. I knew because I had lived outside and seen it first-hand.
But today, I am changed. The country has changed. And for the first time, I really believe we can change. This will not happen overnight, but I know it will happen. And I am proud.
You are probably wondering why I have an image of Jesse Jackson. It’s there because seeing him the the crowd in Chicago last night was so poignant for me- to see his dream come true. The first presidential election I voted in was 1988. As a young impressionable teenager I remember going to a rally in the Tacoma Dome in Washington state to see Mr. Jackson speak. I remember how he tried to get thousands of high school students to believe in themselves and affirm that by his chant: I. AM. SOMEBODY. I have never forgot it and in the 1988 election I voted for him.
Seeing his face last night, his pride, everything had come full circle.
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Thank you for saying what so many of us feel. I think we’re all struggling to find the right words. Seeing Jesse Jackson crying was one of the most powerful images for me too…
I teared up when I saw him sprouting waterworks.