It was right after the election of 2004 when we were all in shock that the Republicans had prevailed again and George Bush would once again hold the most powerful political position in the world.
A website titled "Sorry Everybody" sprang up where individuals could send a picture to the rest of the world stating that we'd done our best to prevent his election.
What made it great therapy is that rapidly a counter site emerged from people in the rest of the world sending their own pictures back basically saying "We accept your apology".
It was this amazing outpouring of good will back and forth between the rational people on all shores and it helped keep me going knowing that there were those minds in other countries that understood that America was not just its scared redneck voters and bizarre leaders.
Today that image came back vividly to me as I saw the hundreds of thousands of people standing together to tell America that they were ready to breathe a sigh of relief and welcome us back out of the asylum.
Just as those pictures back then warmed my heart and told me we were still a family of man, so did the videos and images from today's Germany speech. The American flags waving in the crowd were those same humans that took the time back in our hour of despair to send their photos, greetings, and condolences. They knew that George Bush, Dick Cheney, John McCain were but a distorted blip in our long history much like the scourge of Joe McCarthy and that they'd not survive our strong national character.
We're not done yet not by a long shot. The days before election day are a walk through a minefield but we know we have humanity and basic goodness on our side.