Bob Dylan once sang "the times they are a changin'."
Last night proved that hate, bigotry, sexism and pushing one's religious morals onto others doesn't work anymore in this country. Women, gays and minorities won this election for President Obama. The elderly, the rich and the haves don't outweigh the have-nots anymore and this must be recognized. Loving your country now means accepting all those who reside in it, regardless of whether you agree with their belief system. It's what makes us the best country in the world.
I also noticed something very graphic and telling last night. Every single tweet and Facebook post written in support of Obama's victory, was filled with inspiration, happiness and was eloquently stated, with proper spelling and grammar. Every tweet and post denouncing the victory, was peppered with hate and lies, with misspelled words and improper grammatical notations littering. As someone who has been debating these topics for months, I can tell you this wasn't due to haste, because it's been prevalent in these posts since the beginning. It's a telling sign of who voted for whom and why the Romney campaign failed and why Obama's was effective.
Back in the 30's, 40's & 50's we were the smartest nation on the planet. We voted for intelligent men we could look up to. We haven't had a president like that in many years and our country is slowly crumbling. Intelligence isn't looked at with respect anymore. Money is, and there lies the problem. We covet those who have, the Romney's, Bush's and Trumps and look down on those who have less, but possess brains, like Obama, Carter and Biden. There is a reason we've gone from watching the news every night to the Kardashians. Walter Cronkite, one of our nations most respected journalists, in a time when there were some, once said "Whatever the cost of our libraries, the cost is cheap compared to an ignorant nation." Sadly, it's exactly what we've become. We live in a country that will pass bills and have fund raisers to keep their sports teams alive, but the libraries and arts program gets nothing when in need. What does that say about us?
Some of you are happy, but many of you are angry. This happens in a country that gives us choices. When the constitution was written, our elections were set up to be voted on by a small number of rich white men who owned all the land. Today those same men spend billions trying to tell the rest of us who to vote for. The same way the slaves were freed and later allowed to vote. The same way schools have ended segregation and women have been allowed to vote. These same ways, are why we have the country we have. Those wonderful moments in history happened due to intelligent people accepting change. In time, we all began to accept those changes. Our world is much more complicated today than it was in the 30's, 40's and 50's. We probably have twice as many people, which means more people to house and to feed and to employ. Like in business, with growth comes greater responsibility and what we have today is a world that is growing to fast and we don't have the intelligent minds to figure out what to do. Like a child trying to fit a shape into a hole, we grow frustrated. History shows we will persevere, but it will take time, patience and most of all an intelligence that we have lost hold of.
I hope all of you who are angry, can take a breath and realize this change and need for patience. I hope all you that are happy can recognize the job isn't done, but only started. We will all have to make concessions, to make this country great. Some might be financial and appear difficult, but some might be as simple as acceptance. I lost some friends over this election. I don't know if they will harbor this ill will in a month or two, or if they too will find a way to accept me back in their lives. Only time and patience will tell. I for one, know that I will be waiting. My fellow man angers me at times, but they are worth it.
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