Today I was impulsive.Today I became a believer.
Today I have hope.
It was a dreary winter day today, yet we were having a heat wave-it was mid 20's. A welcome relief after a week of brutal winter weather, I started my 6am workday Tuesday with a temperature of -13 and a windchill of -41 degrees. So warming up almost 40 degrees in just a few days was pure bliss. Kitty(sister/roomate/friend) and I started the day like every other Saturday, by cleaning the apartment top to bottom. Kitty was hoping to have scored a ticket to see Barack Obama speak later in the afternoon at the Target Center in Minneapolis(basketball arena that holds 20,000+ people.) Unfortunately all the tickets were "sold-out"...they were free to get, but really-20,000 tickets were snatched up?! We finished our cleaning and went to lunch at the local hamburger institution-Snuffys.
After lunch we drove around and looked at some properties for sale, then I impulsively headed east. To Kitty's surprise, I decided we were gonna go see Barack...ticket or no ticket. We got to downtown Minneapolis and parked within walking distance of the Target Center. As we approached the arena, following a very brisk walk, we began to see the crowds...the long lines...the excitement was palpable. Kitty was hesitant to go forward, I gave here quick assurance and we crossed the street to the arena.
Several Barack volunteers worked the street directing the foot traffic. "If you have a ticket go this way(points to the north)-if you have no ticket stand in this lined(motions to a long line directly in front of us.) We get in the long line without tickets, not really prepared to stand in the cold-clothing wise, but determined nonetheless. We ask those passing by if they have any extra tickets, some actually do and hand them to the Somali men with small children in tow. 'Good Karma' I shout to the passing strangers as I give 'em the thumbs up. Shortly there after we again ask for 'extra tickets?' and out of nowhere two lovely Somali women produce two extra tickets from the confines of their purse and hand them to Kitty and I. We thanked them profusely and they were very gracious with their shy yet glowing smiles.
Kitty and I jumped over the barriers that held our line in place, and gleefully ran down the sidewalk to get into "the line with tickets"! What we didn't realize was that the end of that line was over a MILE away!! NO KIDDING! LITERALLY! We had come this far. I had the feeling we were suppose to be here. The depth of this crowd, both in volume and diversity, spoke directly to my psyche....that we were suppose to be here!
About 3/4 of the way down the, over mile long, line Kitty spotted our nephew Wyatt and his friends-we(I formally apologize to everyone behind us) cut in line. This was in the part of the line that snaked all around one side of the Target Center, around the back side-then west down 7th(I think that's the street) about 6 blocks down... Hey, we got a nice view of the construction going on at the new ballpark. Volunteers skirted up and down the street making sure everyone was doing OK and to make sure we filled out our personal information on the ticket stub(name, address, phone number...."do you want to volunteer?")...I filled mine out.....I checked 'yes'....I will volunteer. I'm still questioning that decision, but I guess I do have time free on most weekends.
It was truly the absolute best people watching-any people watching fanatic could ask for. The line, which was in constant growth, was made up of-what seemed to be-a complete sampling of every person in our community. Young, old, white, black, male, female, gay, straight, punk, 'straight laced', democrat, independent, liberal, conservative...republican? Everyone standing calmly and patiently in the cold gloomy day with an obvious long wait ahead.
After perhaps an hour or so, we were whisked through security and found our seats-in the "nosebleed" section-and settled in. After a short set by Golden Smog(with Jeff Tweedy!), local political luminaries made their brief statements and introductions-then introduced the man we all came to see-Barack.
Barack spoke to the near capacity crowd for about an hour. He spoke with confidence. His words seem to come forth effortlessly. His first words included the statement- "I'm running because of what Dr. [Martin Luther] King called the fierce urgency of now. There's such a thing as being too late, and that moment is upon us." He spoke with conviction. Barack talks directly to you, the common folk, he tells us we can make the changes necessary in our lives and in our world. He says we CAN sit down and talk face to face with our adversaries-because dialogue is our best diplomacy. We can STOP rewarding big companies for sending our jobs overseas. We CAN fix our environmental problems. We CAN END THIS WAR in Iraq! A war he never supported and did not vote for!
You can't help but hang on every word that he puts forth. He's not big money. He's not corporate produced. He is the common man. He's lived our lives. His words come from his heart and not the agenda of special interests and lobbyist.
I believe.
I actually can say, 'I have hope.'
Now we, EVERYONE, needs to make sure they get out there and make their own voices heard. YOU, can be part of this generations greatest accomplishment-YOU can believe in something and someone-who WILL change our country. My friends, this is history book making time. This is a time your grandchildren will look back and marvel at what an entire generation of people did to make our country better...to make our country what it once was. Don't say "you can't make a difference", you can. But only if everyone says "they can!" We are all one small part of a great big world, yet together-with the same intention, change will come!
Talk to everyone around you, engage those not engaged and just tell them to hear his words for themselves. Let them come to their own conclusion. Go to your caucuses, volunteer, absolutely make sure you vote! It's free, and it's invaluable.
Recently, Frank Shepard Fairey-the "Obey" artist, created an amazing limited edition poster to support Barack. Though immediately sold out, he has continued to get endless requests for the image. Because he is a big believer and supporter of Barack, he has offered a powerful black and white version of the same image, in pdf form, to be copied and plastered around communities everywhere.
So here's the link to the pdf: http://obeygiant.com/images/barack_poster_bw-85x11.pdf
Print out a copy, go produce more copies at your local Xerox shop and then plaster 'em around your town. Get everyone thinking about Barack. Make them want to know what he's all about.
Spread the hope.
Baracks opponents have accused him of being a naive "hopemonger." "They call this a roll of the dice," he said. "They said I needed seasoning and needed to stew a little bit more, boil all the hope out of him. But the real gamble is the same old folks doing the same old stuff over and over again." So don't be complacent, be a "hopemonger."
Hopemonger: A person who attempts to stir up or spread hope.
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