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By Livewire Editor Phil Bonyata
Photos by Andy Argyrakis
A bright, new day dawned late last night. A day where hope and the strength of the human spirit replaces that of fear and divisiveness. Where the rusting shackles of slavery and intolerance have finally been torn away and replaced by a true sense of equality and an understanding that we are all indeed one. President-elect Barack Obama stood alone (with all of humanity by his side) at the podium in Grant Park, while the world watched. Marveling at the how this great nation could elect it's first African-American President after allowing eight years of the unfortunate and damaging Bush Doctrine. The world, blinking in disbelief, watched how America, the most resilient nation on Earth, set aside centuries of racism and indifference and chose a man with a universal vision of truly inspiring change.
"You understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. We know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime. Two wars, a planet in peril and the worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan risking their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctor's bills or save enough for their child's education. There's new energy to harvest, new jobs to be created, new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair. The road ahead will be long, our climb will be steep - we may not get there in one year or one term, but America I have never been more hopeful then I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you we as a people will get there." Obama beamed those inspiring words to the whole planet.
The last Illinoisan to win the White House wrote the first page on the end of slavery and now Abraham Lincoln can look down, 150 years later, and see his brother's long shadow standing next to his own in the Oval Office beckoning a new dawn of hope for all of mankind. |
