We Are Indeed the Change We Waited For

 We are going to be all right now.

Our world is still intact.  Billionaires couldn't buy our country.  Hatred couldn't beat goodness.  Lies couldn't beat truth.  Hard work and faith in our efforts could not be thwarted by voter suppression or buried by TV ads.

A good leader could still defeat a coalition of the greedy and the ignorant.

We have much to be be grateful for.  Certainly for President Obama and his great accomplishments as president and his fierce campaigning.

But we can also be grateful for ourselves, for one another.  Together we defeated forces that were the darkest I have ever seen in America's political life. darker than even the Ku Klux Klan of my childhood, because they were so insidious and so well-financed.  They stood ready to grab and strangle our democracy and pervert it all to their personal enrichment.  We stood to lose our vast public lands, the fight against global warming, our democratic process, our personal liberties, and most certainly our economic gains against the terrible recession from which we are emerging.  I think we were poised to lose the upward arc of human history.  For if the Great Experiment that is America should fail in the face of mere money, what hope is there for all those around the world who dream and struggle for a better society and a better day?

Perhaps that sounds overly dramatic, but I have the perspective of an old woman who has seen much and read deeply in history.  We have just moved through one of the hinges of history.  We made it through.  We are going to be all right now.

Yes, there are problems and probably threats ahead.  After all, the greedy never sleep.  They never even take time off to enjoy life the way we do.  So we have to be ready for what may be coming.

But we know something now that will see us through whatever comes:  Together, we can do anything.

We did this.  Against all the odds, we won.  With our little contributions of hard-won dollars, our efforts in the precincts, our faith in a good man, and with our faith in social justice and in each other  -  nothing could or will stop us.

He was right, you know.  We are indeed the change we waited for.

This time we have truly proven it.

May you all feel as proud and happy as you well deserve to.  And please accept the thanks of a grandma who can look at her grandchildren and say, "They will be all right now."  I really was frightened for them.  But you have made them safe.

Bless you all.