Great post UW!
I had a father who was racist, although he was very careful not to show it to us kids, and I appreciated that. I grew up in a small town that was mostly white, although on my block we had quite a cosmopolitan mix for a 1 block dead end street, and had 4 different nationalities represented.
And I'd tell you the races, but I spelled them so bad, even spellcheck couldn't figure out what I was saying, lol.
At 18, I moved to Hawaii, and got to experience racism aimed at me first hand. My skin was too
light, and I couldn't speak Japanese. There were restaurants that took their time waiting on me, jobs that although it wasn't said "you have to be Asian to get this job" there was still no way I'd get it.
Yet I saw the opposite too. I saw people embrace me like family and welcome me in too and show me the true "aloha" spirit.
18 years of experiencing that to a varying degrees made me really appreciate what it is like to be a minority. I graduated from the University of Hawaii, and I had many a class where I was the only white person, and sometimes the only woman and only white person, in the class.
So Obama being elected meant a lot to me too. See it isn't always "people of color" that are discriminated against, or in the minority. He bridges a big gap. I saw people standing in that crowd when he said his acceptance speech. Black, white, brown all together, smiling, laughing crying together. That really really touched me. I was proud of our country that we could get to that point. Like you, I keep thinking about it.
And the fact that we are almost the same age (He is 15 days older I think) it made me feel like we are FINALLY passing the torch on to my generation and younger. Its time the old farts that have been running washington retired, and let the younger generation take over.
And when last night, seeing him stand up with a TEAM of experts and talk about the economy. Not just "oh I know everything I'm the president" type of leadership we have had for 8 years, that made me so proud. Here is a man that is a true leader. He is still going to have a TEAM obama.
Like you, I could go on and on. I have watched this election more thant I ever have in my life up to this point. I felt like this was the most important one, if he didn't make it, I'd move out of the country important.
Anyways I'm really tired, and out of words.
