The Day After the Day After

It is now the second day of history. I am still wondering and wandering. The impact has only truly begun to sink in.

All day long yesterday, wherever I went with colleagues and friends the election was the center of discussion. None of us could quite believe it. We all commented on Jesse Jackson crying in Grant Park. We all sat in awed silence as we watched the crowds in Chicago. My daughter asked me if I ever knew of an election night where people streamed into the streets of New York and Washington to celebrate. I stretched my imagination and memory to try to put this into some kind of context that I could understand.

There was none. Not in my 60 years. Perhaps 76 years ago when Franklin Roosevelt was elected with the promise of the end of the Great Depression, but that was 16 years before my time. I remembered John Kennedy's election with a magical sense of hope and youth, not unlike some of what has been happening, but to such a lesser degree they're not even in the same city let alone ballpark.

No this is unprecedented. This is unique history. I cannot find words. Even now.

Last evening I sat and watched the Evening News and the same thing kept happening. I would watch and shake my head. I watched as Tom Brokaw interviewed Andrew Young who admitted to under-estimating white America and Dr. King's sister who reminded us of the history of all this by her simple presence.

But behind it all was Barack and Michelle Obama. They are a classy couple. They exude integrity and hope and energy. Yes, these are the words used to describe Jack and Jackie in 1960, themselves an historic election. Yet this was a fulfilling of a dream- a passion- a promise that was hidden behind years of slavery and hatred and racism.

But I am still stretching for words. I speak in cliches. I write with pictures in my mind that have never before been seen. Others will have to describe them. All I am able to do is sit in awe that this has happened in my lifetime.

I pray that we do not put too much on Obama and his administration. He is only human and there will be disagreements. Not all his promises can be met. Some perhaps shouldn't be. He will do things which will upset me- an ardent supporter. Many will be watching his every move for every misstep.

I pray he is real and honest. I also pray he will be willing to give us the difficult and hard news and not the promise of easy solutions. A call to service and even sacrifice may well be an essential of his next four years. Given in the right context we will not hesitate to meet it.

Now for the next 75 days he will put together his administration. He will find out first hand the difficulties he will face and information he may wish he never heard. Perhaps he already knows that this will happen. Tuesday night/Wednesday morning as he left the stage in Grant Park I swear he looked a little more bent over, his walk a little slower. I felt that I could see the weight of the world's most powerful leader beginning to fall on his shoulders. He took one last look at the cheering crowd, waved with a half smile and left, glad he won, I am sure, but no doubt scared to death about what lay ahead.

Pray for him. He will most certainly need it.