Contagious Hope and Pride

[Claudia]

After weeks of wait, it finally arrived!

My Obama/Biden bumper sticker arrived in the mail today and I was giddy with happiness. Mind you it was not even the "official" bumper sticker. That one seemed to be always unavailable when I did my online donations. The one I got was the free one.

Beautiful I thought, and ran outside to clean the window of my Jeep.

I requested the help of my teenage daughter and together we pondered where was the best location for it. Since this was my very first bumper sticker I bestowed the honor of applying to my SUV, I moved it to several locations before settling on the perfect spot. I stood back and admired as if I was admiring a work of art.

A few minutes later I got behind the wheels and drove to the store. I felt happy and hopeful, almost like the feeling you get when you drive your brand new car out of the lot. Silly? Absolutely.
You see? I live in Arizona. McCain's territory, and for many years have been surrounded by Republicans. Nothing wrong with that I know, but this year, being surrounded by McCain supporters is especially hard. Hard to talk with close friends that still hold on to their party's ideal. Hard to listen to the Republican spin and the double standards they seem to feed the gullible population. Hard to see so clearly that the change our country needs cannot come from a men so out of touch with its majority.

Shaking my head as I drove I felt like a piece of the puzzle. Needed and an integral part of the picture. I wanted all to see the blue and red bumper sticker; I wanted the world to know I had a voice.

I enjoyed the feeling and tried to remember when was the last time that our country came together as a family, and everyone felt so hopeful and empowered. When was the last time I felt like this? After September 11 surely is the only time I can remember. But that was different, those feelings were a reaction to an evil attack performed on powerless people, this feeling was bigger, cleaner, more complex and powerful.

This is what hope feels like, I thought. Contagious, vulnerable, powerful, enveloping and gripping.

I parked my car in a parking lot full of cars with no voice and went in the store. While I shopped a terrible thought crossed my mind, what if someone stole my bumper sticker or worse yet vandalized my car? What if the people I saw at those rallies shouting "kill him" were where I was, would those people inflict harm on me? Would they see me as an enemy? For a moment the fear that someone would commit a drastic action because they disagreed with another's choice brought a cloud to my perfect outing.

I shook my head as if to shake away those dark feelings and made my way
outside, where my car and shinny bumper sticker waited for me. I looked at it and let that great feeling envelop me again more positive than ever that all I could do was spread the word so hope could prevail.

I drove back home after my errand only to find the Obama/Biden shirt sitting in my mailbox. With a smile plastered on my face I happily knew that tomorrow I would wear it with pride! Tomorrow the future looked brighter…

[Suzanne Fields]

Hello Claudia! Your post still gets to people and still gives us a piece of the hope you feel. The journey is long, is hard, but is worthy. I see in your words another glimpse of hope: your car not being vandalized means that America is great and accepting, ready to move and commit for the better of its people. Please keep blogging!

[Paula Hall]

Claudia, that was the feeling a lot of us, Brazilians, had when President Lula came to office. He is finishing his second term next year and even though there were a lot of changes in Brazil and there is a lot of good we can attribute to his government, there is no magic and these heroes, like Obama for you now, will only be able to do so much. I guess what I am trying to say is enjoy that feeling while it lasts; you have the right to it and deserve it. But be aware that if elected Barack Obama alone won't change this country as much you would like to or as much as it needs to. And like you, and for the sake of all of us in the world, I hope it does.

[Claudia]

Yes Anita. I totally agree. How does he expect us to move forward and prosper with this attitude. Last night at the last debate he seemed very disrespectful, insolent and mostly talked down to Senator Obama. Very unfortunate indeed.

I sure hope things here do change or there will be no difference between us and the countries we fight.

Claudia

[Anita S. Lane]

Well written. It is the poignantly obvious difference between the two campaigns (as I mention in my blog post "We're Angry." McCain's rallys don't focus on hope, inclusion and optimism, but fear and and division.

It's unfortunate.

Anita