I woke up in the usual manner today. I worked a late shift until three a.m. and so I slept until about 10:30. I woke up, stumbled out into our living room, and turned on the T.V.
And guess what?
The world hadn't ended. The world hadn't been magically solved of all its problems, either.
Aside from the women on *shudder* The View, who were gushing and practically crying on network television, the world was moving forward. Cartoons were on, infomercials hawked their useless wares, and CNN was running the morning news gambit.
The world lives on.
Last night, we elected Sen. Barack Obama to be our 44thh president. This morning, we still live in America.
That will never change.
Facebook went crazy last night around 11:00p.m. when Sen. Obama was finally confirmed as the winner. Cries of disappointment and of horribly misspelled ecstasy echoed up and down the News Feed.
I got fed up after about three seconds.
I quickly changed my status to:
"Caleb Sommerville says chill out, America. http://www.kansan.com/blogs/reactor/2008/oct/05/unite/."
That link is, of course, a link to my October 5th blog on moving forward with ourselves after the election is over.
It still stands today.
I also wrote a quick note on my profile:
"Oh boy, here it comes. Cue the gloating, cue the whining, cue the doomsday marches.
Two words, America:
CHILL OUT.
Yes, Obama will be our next president. Yes, I do think we should not have elected him. But guess what? The people have spoken, and so be it. Stop the whining, stop the gloating. Take your McCain stickers off your cars; take your Obama signs out of your yard.
The election is done, our country will continue on, and above all:
God is still in control.
Daniel 2:21 says:
"He changes times and seasons; He sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning."
HE set Obama to be president. And HE will decide when he will not be. We needn't worry ourselves about the terrible or mind-blowingly amazing things that will happen to our country.
Obama's the president. Get behind him, support him, and shut up."
In other words, Move, America. Quit whining, quit gloating. It won't do us a dang bit of good. True, I don't like Obama and I don't think he'll be a good president, but guess what?
He's MY president.
I am a citizen of the United States, and we, as a country, elected him.
He's the people's president.
He's (or at least, will be in a few months) our leader. Stop complaining and leaving your McCain/Palin '08 and Ron Paul (seriously?) stickers on your car and start over.
Support Obama. He needs all the help he can get.
Discussion
All comments are moderated by Kansan.com staff. For our full user policy, click here.
eh, i'm gonna keep gloating a while. this is a pretty big deal, and it's not just another rich white man getting elected. this is someone who the people actually believe in, and has the potential to right a LOT of wrongs made over the past few years (and not just bush, and not just republicans).
Hey, guess what, everyone believes in who they vote for. This isn't anything new. It's another rich half-white guy getting elected, and gloating serves NO purpose but to simply divide the country even more.
Just move on with your life.
Thank you Caleb for writing this!!! I completely agree that we need to move on without whining and gloating!
Well put. Sure, I don't agree with everything Obama says, but my faith is not in a man who calls himself the president of a nation. My faith is in the One who created the nations. We cannot expect a president to be the Messiah or the anti-Christ. A wise friend said: "we can celebrate, or we can mourn.
But we better not become resigned. It’s we who can change things. Make a difference in the lives of the poor. Give care to the uncared-for. Make a commitment to peace. Live sustainable lifestyles.
It’s that truth that I’m banking on.
Four years of committed Christian living — peacemaking, loving, and neighboring — I’d vote for that." Thanks for your thoughts, Caleb. Right on.
I'm with you 100% Caleb. It might be easier for me to say it's time to move on, but it needs to happen. We are in the midst of costly war and economic crisis, and Mr. Obama can't fix it all by his own self. Cooperation is needed to help the nation move forward, and those who said around 11:00 last night the likes of, "what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger. But I'm pretty sure this is going to kill us!" or "congratulations America...we are officially f*cked," need to get over it. By the same token the person above who said he or she will gloat about this, you are worth less than worthless. Enjoy that your man won, but what will gloating and taunting the other side do? Give you two minutes of lowly, hollow satisfaction while you berate someone who is already upset? Grow up.
Caleb..this is Faith fyi...I see where you are coming from however if you dont realize it this is a very big moment in history...the 1st african american president...this is something people thought could never be...our parents and grandparents lived in a time when they had no rights whatsoever and now they are at a time when there is actually a black leader...do you think they will rejoice for a few seconds and then just move ahead...this marks history...realize that african americans can now tell their kids they can be whatever they want to be and have a Profound and significant example...but my anger stemmed from the fact that ppl were up and writing racist and ignorant comments...is that really necessary? having a black man as president is a problem for them???then they have no idea of the grounds that this country was founded on...i could go on for days about the stupidity I've seen...but i'll stop for now but you never answered my question...why shouldnt we have elected Obama and why should we have elected mccain?? The people chose Obama becasue they didnt want the same thing theyve had for the last 8 years so why would you vote mccain(I realize mccain isnt bush but you gotta admit his views are pretty much the same :)
And Elaine...your first line was so serious...." Sure, I don't agree with everything Obama says, but my faith is not in a man who calls himself the president of a nation. My faith is in the One who created the nations"
You better speak!!!
My answer to your question is located in detail in my previous blog post, "My Formal (Un)Endorsement."
That outlines the reasons I didn't like Obama. Don't have much of a choice, now.
And I never belittled the significance of having an African-American as president. What I am speaking out against is people who feel the need to either praise Obama as the single greatest thing to ever happen to this country (he has yet to serve) or to demonize him as the single worst thing to ever happen to this country (again, he has yet to serve). At this point, we don't know what he's going to do, and gloating/whining about it will only serve to divide our country further. We need to stand behind him as our country's leader.
No comments:
Post a Comment