Reflections on November 4, 2008

I have had a few days to actually think about this.

If someone would ask me about what a particular day would mean to me, depended on the day, I would probably look at it as just any other day. I would have probably looked at it as just any random day of the week and thought of it as nothing special.

For many people, November 4, 2008 will be a day that many of us will remember for numerous reasons. To some people it will be a day in which we went about the process in which a new President was elected. To other people it can be view as just any normal Tuesday. To other people, November 4, 2008 will be viewed as a day in which he made HISTORY.

I will vividly remember what I was doing at 11:00pm on November 4th, and I will remember what I was doing for as long as I live. I will always be thinking to myself that there was someone that I wished was alive to see this day. I am sure I am not the only person who felt that way. I am sure that I have friends that wish that they had deceased love ones who they wish were still living to see this day. I am sure that there are people who only wished many people who were involved in the Civil Rights Movement were alive to see this night as it happened. For at least one night, I actually felt that maybe, just maybe Dr. King’s dream became a reality.

I know alot of my friends that have children actually woke their kids up out of bed to hear President-Elect Obama’s speech Tuesday night. I also know alot of people who shed tears that night in awe of a night that many of us thought would at some point happen, but not in our lifetime. One of my friends woke his kids up to show them that on this night, NOBODY can ever, other than yourself, put a limitation on what you can be, and what you can become.

I happened to call a friend of mine that night and her son answered the phone, and asked me in terms of the election: “Why was mommy crying?” I tried to find the words to explain what was going on and the only way I could tell him was “One day, as you get older, you will understand how significant this day is.” He also mentioned to me how his mom wish saying that if only people like Dr. King, and Rosa Parks were alive to see what had happened, and he asked me why was that. The only answer that I could give him was something that I will probably think as crazy years from now, but at that moment, it made perfect sense to tell him:

Rosa Parks sat so that Martin could march, Martin marched so that Obama could run, Obama ran so that we all one day will be able to fly.

I had to even take the time to sit back myself and think to myself that this has not sunk in for me either. I think that this will sink in for me on January 20, 2009 at around 12 noon, when President-Elect Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America. I think that at that moment, everything that our ancestors went through from slavery, to the civil rights movement, to November 4, 2008 will come full circle.

Will the election of Obama fix the racial divide that exists in this country? Who knows? Is it a start? It remains to be seen. Will this night inspire us to strive to be better, and strive for greatness? I hope so. I know that Obama’s platform was “CHANGE WE NEED”, and with that in mind, I want to think and believed that on November 4, 2008, America really did change, and if it did I hope it changed for the better.