my friend asked me a very big, very important question. i think we all need to examine our answers to it, and compare them and reassess and restructure and actively work toward achieving them.
what do you want this country to be?

i'm one of the least politically savvy people i know. there's so much i just don't understand. that said, i recognize that our country could be more than what it is and i have hope that we can all realize its potential by getting off our asses and working with one another in a united spirit of hope, perseverence, understanding and pride.
to start from the bottom, in a sense.... i want for people to recognize how truly blessed they are to be a part of this country. on its worst days, it is a better place to call home than so many others. we are free to do what we choose, be whoever we take it upon ourselves to become. brave and righteous people we wont know in this life sacrificed everything so we could be handed all these opportunities the minute we became Americans. it is no small gift. that so many of us recognize this truth and deny or ignore any personal responsibility to preserve and prosper such a gift to the best of our abilities is disgusting. to whom much is given, much is expected, and our scale is far from balanced. too, in this vein, an awareness of how genuinely good it is to be where we are and to have all we have should culminate in a sense of pride. the pride you might take in having a cool dad or really wrinkly gorgeous baby or something that you had no active control over but appreciate and know how much it's the shit. (read: this does NOT mean someone else's dad is uncool or other babies suck for not being the one you worry about every time it coughs. pride is separate from, and more righteous than looking down on anyone else. peter said love is not proud but i think pride accompanies love and does not preclude gratitude and humility.)

i want ours to be a country that encourages and rewards education. GED-level instruction should be recognized as the right of all americans, and opportunities for higher education ought to be extended equally to every interested party regardless of race, creed, or socio-economic status because the higher the number of educated persons in a society, the greater its capacity for progress and positive evolution becomes.

how are you spending this day?
i will say this, i didn't realize how anxious i'd be about things. it's so exciting. i wish we were all together tonight. i want people to CELEBRATE with. ahhhhh!
the trees near my building are so great. oak trees, maybe? i dont know. its like they met and drew numbers across the spectrum of fall leaf colors. there's at least one in every shade from green to red. they KNOW. change is a'comin and they're dressed for the party.
i'll tell you how i'm spending my election day cause i'm always curious how everyone did.
i woke up at 8, drove to my polling place, saw the line, and went to breakfast. i met two friends and had sausage, eggs, and grits, and went back to the vfdub (i vote at a vfw post). i waited about an hour, met a new neighbor and saw a dozen or so people i know. i talked about the power of books with a man who has voted in 16 presidential elections and grew up in florence, sc. his class at school used to have to do book reports half the class at a time because there werent enough books for everyone at once. i talked to three people about scraping a popcorn ceiling, which is easier than you may know. i voted and got my sticker and came to work an hour late, and have done very little here. i will go to my second job around 4 and, i expect, continue to not do much. cnn will probably be on when i get there. i happen to know i'll be working with someone who voted differently than i, and i imagine he'll want to insult my candidate and/or me, or prefer to talk to anyone else who may have voted for his. he's a good guy though.
i don't know how my parents are voting. i suppose i'll have a better idea when i get home at 8.

i love voting. i almost wish we had to stand in line with our neighbors and make important decisions more frequently.
i really may cry if things go our way today. i believe so whole-heartedly in my candidate's vision and potential. we need this. we need every good thing he could possibly do. and if we get even half of it in 4 years i think the history books will immortalize him and us and all of this.
i HOPE i can celebrate tonight. and i hope i'll find someone to join me. we're crossing the finish line after a hard, quick sprint and this victory lap leads straight to the starting line for a long, uphill marathon. so have a drink! pull up your socks! its here.

we are the ones we've been waiting for