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American Promised Land - American All

November 5, 2008

We stand at the cusp of an American renewal. We need that collective refreshing of the bonds of community, shared responsibility, and openness of the American Dream to new citizens if we are to remain the last, best hope of humanity in a world long mad for the natural capriciousness of nature in humanity.

The rising of Obama to the Presidency is even more poignant than the glory of the first elected African American to the highest office of the nation, living out the dream of Martin Luther King, Jr. that the race would live in a promised land. It is further the fulfillment of the American expectation written in the self evident truths of Jefferson, - that all men are created equal, and thus they would rise, by their natural abilities, in our American Eden.

But Cain slew Abel in the first Eden. There is still an undercurrent of blind fear of the other in the elevation of a black leader in America. The ignorant, the racist, the socially excluded, and the mentally deficient – a veneer is stripped away and the reality causes them discomfort, distress, irrational fear. The danger is not often real, the threat implied often fantasy fulfillment, the means, while simple to mount an attack, not as easily accomplished by plan or sheer luck as it may seem in the nervous jokes and gibberish of the individuals caught up in these crevices of the American soul.

Then the noble opposition, that large segment of the population that voted for an alternate vision and held out against the values of our change this election season, they must be given a hand shake and shown a willingness to engage them again in common action for the good of citizens and the country. Let's turn the voices of “Country First” into ‘American All”. Our most noble outcomes and greatest strength come from a shared vision and mutual authority.

The messenger of the change in America could hardly be better than Obama, a man rounded and educated and stabilized in emotion to suffer the more outrageous, misguided fortunes of being a figurehead and symbol with great grace and dignity. A cooler head prevails. Let it receive wisdom and advice at every turn and lead with the grace and dignity he has portrayed on the election trail.

It is endearing to see the wonder and joy in the public response, the affirmation of many people, who, like myself up until the past year, believed that this change would not be realized in our lifetimes. It is real, and it will endure. This modern American story is inclusive in a way it has never been before and we should celebrate the differences.

The world watches, awed by our capacity to renew ourselves and break the shackles of the social and racial conventions that have deep roots in American soil. Their old disparagements of the nation fall away. A new light shines upon the waters, giving hope and guidance once again to a turbulent world.