We are truly lucky to be living today. Yesterday we witnessed an incredible thing happen; an event that will resonate in our country’s history forever. It never really occurred to me just how momentous this was until our new president elect told that story about the 106-year-old woman who cast her vote for him.
This is the kind of thing we will tell our children about. This is our moon landing; our Brown v. Board of Education. What this means for our country is everything. It shows we aren’t stuck in a rut, like we have assumed for years now. If we can let something like this happen, it shows we really are ready for the future.
As long as I live I will always remember that feeling of excitement and anticipation as this election drew to a close. That feeling that big changes were coming, no matter who won. And yet, the results were never really in doubt toward the end, at least in my case. Sure, I had some tiny worries bouncing around in the back of my head, but as the last week came along and especially as the counting started, I knew that everything was going the right way.
And what a way to see it all go down! Those who watched the election on CNN were gifted with an excellent treat; using experimental video technology, CNN was able to construct a 3D holographic image of a person being interviewed in their newsroom. Not physically there, but they could be seen by anyone watching via television. They used it twice, once to get a report from Jessica Yellin, and another time to interview the Black Eyed Peas’ Will.i.am. This in addition to John King’s masterful manipulation of the election board tracker made a nice complement to Obama’s talk of the future. When such mechanical marvels are used with ease by news agencies, public consumption can’t be far away.
I do have sympathy for those who supported John McCain; I would have been a sore loser if it had gone the other way. But Barack Obama’s leadership is what we need in this new century. Now, as Obama so eloquently put it, we do indeed stand on the cusp of a new dawn; I can only hope that everyone else in this country gets as swept up in the furor and we do unite as a people.
