thankful
lolitasir on CNN. Chicago, Times Square, Harlem, LA, all of these places with masses of Obama supporters banding together. The pictures on NYTimes.com this morning show Obama celebrators in Little Havana, Miami. Other friends have shared photos of their hometowns and the mass celebrations that ensued.
badfaggot shared with us images of Seattle. castrofur shared an image of San Francisco. I've now voted in four presidential elections, and have been alive for a few more. And I can't say I ever remember seeing celebrations like this after an election. If you knew nothing about what was going on, if you totally blanked that yesterday was Election Day, staring at these images could ellicit guesses of New Years, a major local sporting win such as the Super Bowl or the World Series, or maybe even Gay Pride or something along those lines.
But an election? Never. Never in a million years would I have guessed that as the cause for such joyousness. Elections are generally much more personal. Yes, some celebrating inside public gathering points like bars and other places, but then after a round congrats, usually people just move on.
TheOnion.com has a pretty telling headline on the homepage - Nation Finally Shitty Enough to Make Social Progress.
The sad thing is they're right. And I totally get why so many people were celebrating. Why there were 120,000(!!) people in Grant Park in Chicago last night, many crying. Why Jesse Jackson was shown sobbing on the CNN screen.
This wasn't an election. This was an upheaval of emotion and desperation and passion. This was something that inspired masses of people to finally throw their hats in the air and actually celebrate living in the US.
I am soaking up the images today. I don't want to ever forget this moment. I think people will be talking about this for generations.
