At Last!!

How appropriate was it that President Obama and his wife danced to the Etta James classic, “At Last,” on inauguration night? I alone can think of so many at lasts that culminated in that dance, on that hour, for so many, on so many levels, that so very historic night.

At last Mr. Obama was no longer President in waiting! At last Mr. Bush was out! At last there was a new direction, with the world watching, feeling inspired in this at last’s wake! At last the attempt to heal a nation broken by years of divisive policies could begin! At last Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream had been realized, he had been to the mountaintop and knew this day would come! At last African Americans, no, make that persons of African descent worldwide, could hold our heads high, our young people could respectfully pull their pants up, realizing that we are no longer a minority, one of us is the leader of the free world…At last!! At last the inescapable contribution of the slaves on whose backs the new world was built, had not toiled in vain; the tears of mothers whose children had been lynched had been vindicated; at last the indignities of the Jim Crow era were satiated and we could ride anywhere in the bus, design the bus, fix the bus or drive the bus, BMWs or walk, if we pleased (shout out to AKH)…At last, At last, AT LAST.

At last in this symbolic act, children who once saw themselves limited in the reach of their potential realized that they actually could be exactly what they wanted to be, at last their potential was really limitless. So here we sit ushering the dawn of a new era of inclusiveness awestruck. For those of us who thought we would never see it our lifetime, pinch yourselves, you are not dreaming; that night, the spirits of our predecessors (TMWR) danced right up there with the first couple. AT LAST, AL FIN, ENFIN… Jesus Wept. John 11:35. Selah.

Election Day Hi – Jinx

So in a cute development this morning my five year old’s Pre-K teacher set up a mock election for her Pre-K class to participate in. It was too cool to look at. There was a little privacy booth complete with photocopied pictures of the candidates for the children to circle the aspirants of their choice. And this was completely unexpected so parents did not have time or enough information to coach their children on their own voting preferences.

I was so amused and tried to chant the name of the nominee of my choice to my baby’s ears but was quickly shooed out of the room for trying to influence the electorate. Well cut to 12:45 pm when I picked up my daughter only to see a glum face. I enquired as to the cause and the teacher happily blurted out the candidate of my daughter’s choice. To my surprise my child was unhappy because the teacher was saying that she had voted for a particular candidate, a charge which she vehemently denied, and then began to sulk about it. It was almost as if she expected to be chastised for her vote.

Quickly I tried to reassure her that her vote was her choice and she was entitled to her opinion and there was no such thing as a bad or wrong vote. To the contrary I reasoned, what was a reprehensible act is having the facility to let your voice be heard and not taking full advantage of that ability! She was just interested in the fact that her ballot did not go to the candidate that she intended to choose and was so crestfallen by same.

Subsequently, while we were waiting for her older sister to be dismissed, another favorite teacher saw her downcast face and enquired like I did as to the matter. When I told her, she was almost visibly offended and asked in an accusatory tone “So is that a bad thing?” Realizing that this could be a supporter of the other candidate I immediately backpedalled and tried to say that because there was a majority in the class my daughter was objecting to the fact that she did not have a chance to be a part of the winning ballot group. Right then and there I began to really get how much of a personal choice this was and even to a five year old the right to keep your selection private is sacred and both the well meaning teacher and myself had unintentionally violated her suffrage entitlement – if a five year old can have one!

I guess the moral of this story is that as we keep living, we keep learning.

Results of the Pre K vote:

Barack Obama 11 John McCain 4 Margin of error +/- 1

Selah.

Change is in the Air!! Notes from the Ground On This Historic Election Day 11/04/08

Even the weather feels different today…. Change is not coming, it is here! Usually the morning is brisk with a chill that would numb your bones!! Not this morning! It feels like all provisions were being pulled out even in the heavenly realm to ensure that all goes well for the voters. I did not drop my kids to school today, I walked because I knew there would no available parking at their polling station school. And What A Sight! There was a line already out the door at 8:30 am, excitement is in the air!! Everyone is happy, pleasant and polite the electricity in the air is palpable!

There are some reports already of electronic malfunctions at that polling station, everyone is wary of that situation but interestingly enough they are not leaving! All around there is a buzz that no one should leave the polling station until their vote is cast! People are on there phones calling work explaining that even though they have been at the station since 7:00 am they cannot vote and they are not leaving until they do!! The authorities have already changed out one machine and everyone is prepared to wait it out! The common feeling is that no one is going to allow an election to go the way of the hanging or dimpling chad of lore!

In the classroom, my youngest in her Pre-K class is participating in a mock election…too cute while my eldest also goes to the polls in her class!! Isn’t democracy great? I’ll post updates later.

I have been to the mountain top and I have seen the promise land and I may not get there with you but I have a dream…Yes, We Can!! Selah.

Friendship Redifined

The other day I was remarking to someone that I thought I might have recently offended another person. But further in the conversation it occurred to me that I could check a popular social networking website to which I am a member to see if I was still on that person’s friends list. By that point in the conversation the person that I was speaking with was convulsing with laughter and right then the truth in the absurdity of what I was saying hit me like a ton of bricks, Facebook and MySpace are at the helm of a quiet revolution that is redefining the contemporary parameters of the word “friendship” as we know it.

Take this for example; someone else once spoke about being sent a friend request again on a social networking website, by a co-worker who was really just an acquaintance. That individual then was forced to either let this person have access to the private details of his life that a co-worker would not ordinarily have access to, or ignore the friend request. He decided to do the latter but his distress was compounded when the co-worker, several days after not getting an accepting friend correspondence, came to him to enquire as to the matter. Well needless to say, I’m sure the office became a less friendly place when an explanation along the lines of ….”I’m just not that into you,” was given.

Another person spoke of feeling very awkward about a friend request that he had gotten from an ex-girlfriend who had been very deceptive all during their relationship. Though it had been several years since the relationship had ended and both of them had moved on, he was conflicted as to whether he wanted to allow this murky figure from his past to have such a familiarity with his new and improved life.

Also, sometimes on those websites hackers disguise viruses as friend requests as that appeals to some people’s vanity. You see, all types belong to these networks including those who it seems are in a race to add to their friends lists in some sort of rabid popularity contest gone awry mode; the premise being, the more friends the more worthy thus these people become quick fodder for scams when they befriend a frienemy.

More than that, I have been privy to persons having to explain who they are and where they know an individual from when a friend request comes back with questions like, “who are you again!” At that point I believe you should cut your loses and move on, clearly a friend you are not, if they have no recall of your existence. On the other end of the spectrum, there are those who develop a running online dialog with persons after receiving their friend request but do not acknowledge same. Maybe they are worried that the seeker might disapprove or be horrified by the intimate details of their life so they ignore the olive branch of new age friendship that is being waved their way. I tell you it is all so complicated.

At this point I am not sure what the current definition of friend is, given these new friendship factors. All I can do is to figure that the people who you can call in the middle of the night and disturb their sleeping baby when you are in a bind, are your friends. Those who don’t laugh at your hatred of your middle name are your friends; those sounding board listeners who don’t judge your idiosyncrasies are your friends and those who you haven’t seen in ten years but can pick up where you last left off without pauses in the conversation being uncomfortable, are your friends. Who knows, maybe the traditional definition has not really changed, instead maybe it has evolved with the times. Selah.

"It's the Economy, Stupid!!"

Years ago when President Bill Clinton was campaigning against President George Bush sr., this was the catch phrase of his campaign, “It’s the Economy, stupid!” Well fast forward sixteen years and it constantly befuddles me how come none of the campaigns have seen it fit to focus on the economy. I mean with Lehman Brothers, Merril Lynch and AIG all recording major trouble in the same week, where is the rally call…”It’s the economy, stupid?” I have heard about a bridge to nowhere, championing voting rights in congress and lies in the media, but no one has clued into, …”It’s the economy, stupid!”

On the street where I live, the man across the road, the lady beside him and my neighbor directly beside me have all lost their jobs over the last year. Certainly they were able to get jobs again but I’m almost sure their rate of pay and not to mention their tenure has suffered …”It’s the economy, stupid!” There were two houses on this street that recently sold after being on the market for over a year and a half and when they did sell they went for almost twenty per cent below asking price…”It’s the economy, stupid!” I was speaking to a friend of mine who was having a migraine headache and when I enquired why she did not go to the doctor, she told me that she had a choice of making the doctors co-payment or putting gas in her car so she was taking Tylenol instead…”It’s the economy, stupid!” My sister in law in the medical field speaks of getting less hours on the job because people have to make co-payment choices, my sister speaks of massive layoffs in her sector …”It’s the economy, stupid!” Can anyone hear me?

A lot of people on the top of the food chain think of the economy as some airy fairy, pie in the sky concept that that is to be tracked by statistics and graphs. No it is not! It is a bread and butter issue that affects the way how people feed their children. How can I expect a man whose wife’s outfit cost more than most people’s house to understand this predicament? How can I expect the first term governor in her second year of office, from an oil rich state with a population barely higher than that of the county I live in, to catch my drift? Does the regular guy from ordinary circumstances who worked his way to the top comprehend this plight? I don’t know but November is coming and these issues need to be addressed, shucks they could once again become a rally call…”It’s the economy, stupid!” Selah.

9/11...7 Years Later.

You know when I was a little girl, my mother would always tell me about her experience of a worldwide life changing event - when everyone it seems felt the same vulnerability. For my mother’s generation that event was when President John F. Kennedy was so horribly killed in such a frightening way. For my generation the event was September 11, 2001 when those two buildings fell in almost slow motion. I feel I could wager that just as how my mom’s colleagues could always remember where they were and what they were doing on that fatal day, my contemporaries too will forever have this date etched in their minds and the feeling of helplessness that occupanied the disaster.

I remember how much of a beautiful morning, September 11, 2001 had started out as being as I cradled my baby in my arms. I remember how that all changed in a heartbeat. I remember being struck by the cacophony created as every available sirened vehicle rushed down to the scene to assist in anyway possible. I remember TV showed nothing else. I remember the smell of burning ruins with all their contents burning too, that filled Brooklyn’s skies and parched the back of your throat. I remember the darkness that covered that city during the daylight and people just standing outside looking up for answers to the common unspoken question…”Is this the end?” I remember children being stuck at home panic-stricken as they longed for some word, any word of their parents fate. I remember seeing thousands walking home trying desperately to get a signal on their cell phones as the roads in were closed, heavily guarded and public transportation halted. I remember how communication ceased in the city as one of the WTC towers had an important transmitter that was lost in the days events. I remember how much that day caused people to look at themselves and reorder their priorities.

I also remember the change that followed and New Yorkers rallying to tame the turmoil. How a city that was known for being distant and unfeeling wore its heart on its sleeve and the entire world reached out to comfort it. I remember the vacuous hole that appeared in the center of the city once the rubble had been cleared became a pilgrimage of the macabre that everyone had to make and the twin rays of light that beamed up into the sky soon afterwards in ethereal remembrance of what was. I remember looking down into that deep unforgiving cavern marveling through my tears.

Since that time, hope has replaced fear and has finished a memorial to that day at the sister site in Washington DC. Hope is rebuilding on that same Manhattan site with reverence and a view to the future. Hope is everywhere even outside of a little town in Arkansas and as Jamaicans would say, “its better to live in Hope than Constant Spring.” So now the air is no longer blocked by haze and my baby is a second grader who on a clear crisp, September 11, 2008 is being taught to respect and never forget, September 11, 2001 while expectations remain bright. The world has changed. Selah.

Does God Have A Brother?

So we were out in the backyard early one Saturday morning my girls and I, communing with nature as we bathed our dog when my eldest, obviously struck by the absolute beauty of the moment and the serenity of the mood, asked the following question…

“Mummy, Does God have a brother?”

I sat bolt upright. The depth of this child’s thoughts always intrigues me. Then her sister chimes in,

“Yeah, or a sister?”

Building on that sister theme, my eldest then added,

“Yeah and does that make Mother Nature his sister?”

I liked the fact that given the direction of the questioning, both my girls had come to a realization of God’s omnipotence because they did not seem to think that Mother Nature was God’s Mom. But to me it was curious that they chose to put her in a sister slot. And then it struck me that the beauty of the morning could only be attributed to God or his sister Mother Nature who must be his proxy for all things beautiful, while his is busy handling bigger issues like hurricanes and new born babies.

So I answered,

“No he doesn’t girls, but that is a wonderful question.” “Good Thinking!”

Selah.