Over the past 8+ months of travel here in South and Central America I have found myself defending my country and my government more than I ever have in the past. The latter would fall into the "I can say bad things about my government, but the hell if I am going to stand around and listen to some Norwegian or Belgian bash us" category.
On election day here in Jaco, Costa Rica, a couple friends and I settled in early to watch the pundits on CNN & Fox News gush their last minute ¨insight¨ and eventually deliver news of the early returns. It was great to hear about the high number of voter turnouts and reminded me of the patriotic feeling I had in 2004 while waiting for my turn to cast my vote.
As it looked more and more likely that Obama was going to win and win big, I felt a sense of relief, not only that he would prevail, but also that there would be no controversy, lawsuits or long delays in determining a winner. As we watched John McCain's concession speech I was impressed with his graciousness and more aware of the impact of what had just happened. As we saw the incredible joy that Americans were displaying in cities all over the country - because of an election - and the sight of the tens of thousands gathered in Chicago in front of the impressive stage of American flags, I felt myself smiling out loud. In no way did I expect to be, or for that matter, care to be greatly moved by the events of the day, but it suddenly began to hit me like I never could have predicted. The patriotism began to build and finally overwhelmed me during Obama`s acceptance speech. I was proud to be an American. For the first time on this trip, I was really, really proud to be an American. (photo from Sept 2007)
with a blog named 'change' of course you lean left! j/k
ReplyDeleteI hear you on the American pride. it's the first time that I was like 'Yeah! stare at me! I'm proud to be an american today, and yes Obama rocks!'