Random Recordings of Mental Meanderings

It’s a new day in America.

It’s a new day on Planet Earth.

I was out watching the election results, and there was a cheer that went up when Barack Obama was declared the winner. When he came up to speak, there was dead silence in the room, even though there were about 25-30 college-aged kids in the room. Then I went outside, and there was excitement in the air. People were honking their horns, chanting Barack’s name, whooping and hollering . . . it was as if the Bills won the Superbowl and the Sabres won the Stanley Cup on the same day. I saw young African-American men running through the streets carrying large American flags. I spoke with Pakistani and Indian students who were friends, even though their countries are at odds with each other. I shouted “We did it!” with people I didn’t even know, both black and white.

It was an amazing night.

However, the real work is just beginning. We have a great deal of work to do, and it is not all to be put on Obama’s shoulders. We all have to get together to fix what is wrong with our country. Obama can offer us leadership, but he cannot do all the work. We each, in our own way, have to do all the little things that we have the ability to do. Whether it’s volunteering at a food kitchen, donating blood, giving to charity, visiting elderly shut-ins, mowing your neighbor’s lawn when you do your own, or snow blowing your neighbor’s sidewalks along with your own. Whatever it is we can do, we have to do. We have to work towards creating good paying jobs in the USA. We have to clean up the environment. We need to get ourselves into living healthy lifestyles and stop being an obese lazy people. We need to wean ourselves off of the mindless tripe that is broadcast through the airwaves, both on TV and on the radio. We need to become better educated, and a more intelligent people. Mostly, we need to create a world that will be better for our children than we have for ourselves.

Barack can lead us, but we have to do the work.