grant park

there were over 200,000 people in grant park on tuesday night. after much deliberation [i had been up since 5:30, tired, a little cranky, sad about office work, &., &.], adam and i meandered down to the loop to meet ryan, cat and drew to watch the election results and to pray that my heart wouldn't be broken again.

after cnn called the election, we wandered over to grant park in time for the mccain concession speech - very gracious, from what i could hear - people were booing and hissing all around.

but one of the most striking things for me was the lack of anarchy. i had been leery about the sheer number of people - i don't really like crowds and getting into a mass of people tightly packed where i can't get out if necessary makes me a little anxious - but there was no pushing. no crowding. just people - black people, white people, brown people, old, young, children - all quietly listening.

if you know me, you also know that i am somewhat of a cynic - i am leery of politics and politicans, simply because i feel so much of what they purport to do or say is entirely for show, and once in office, revert to personal agendas, not solving anything or helping in any way.

i resisted getting swept up in oba-mania, because of this starry-eyed earnest aura surrounding his supporters in my demographic. come on guys. his platform is "change"?? he's a politican! they are all. the. same.

but, in grant park, my little cynical heart melted. look at all this people, being nice to each other despite background, despite socio-economic class, despite race. i was elated and excited to have obama win this election and i eagerly anticipate his next actions because i believe now that change is possible, that we can hope to make america once again into the kind of nation that serves as a role model for the rest of the world.


from repowers and chrisdetmer, respectively. i haven't been good about taking my camera with me . . . .