Yes We Can.

I just watched the program that Obama put on. Aside from a tiny bit of pride that the last few minutes were broadcast from close to where I used to live, I spent nearly the entire thirty minutes in tears. It really, really got me, and it got me hard.

Some of it was the sheer hope, the hope that we can come out of the lousy financial place that we, as a country, are in. It was hope that we can come together as a country, overcome the few who are convinced that Obama's a leftist, a Marxist, a socialist, a terrorist. It was the overwhelming feeling that he truly wants to help people, that he listened to their stories not out of political expediency, but because he cares about each person he met, that these people touched him and left an imprint of themselves on him, and that he did the same in return.

It was the stories of each person mentioned, and their friends. It was the fact that these are people that we know, or that are known by people we know. The stories we read in blogs, the way people find ways to network and leave something of themselves in other people's lives, give gifts of the lessons they've learned, or that they need to learn. It was the way that one man, with one campaign for president, is finding a way to weave these stories together, in order that we can find hope in the stories and ways to overcome hardship. It was the implication that the lessons from the past can teach the future, but don't have to BE the future that touched me.

I've already voted. But I want to spend some of each day volunteering, from now until the election. I want my vote to mean that we came together as a country and voted for hope, not fear. We voted for work, for ourselves and our children, for education, for health care, and for caring about each other as a people, with respect and kindness.

This is change, and this is real. This can happen.