Today is a great day for Democrats, Independents, and some Republicans who believed in Barack Obama and think his election is a great thing for American. Today is a great day for Americans, for people all around the world that supported Barack Obama overwhelmingly. Today is a great day for his coalition of every race, religion, age, sexual orientation, background, etc. that think that an Obama presidency represents Hope and a New Time in America. For those of use that believe his presidency will break down walls and change some of the major wrongs perpetrated on us over the last eight years. It is a great day for those of us that believe that an Obama victory is a symbolic win over the racism that built the foundation of this country. For these people and many more, this is a great day.
However, for another group of people today is not such a great day. For people that are die-hard Conservatives on Social, Fiscal, or National Security issues. It is not a great day for the millions of Americans that were convinced Obama was a Muslim and that this is a bad thing... This is a frightening day for many Americans; a day, rightly or wrongly, that many of them fear for their families, religion, and country. For them, this day is not historic, it is a dark day.
And it is for them that I ask you to think of, reach out to, and if you believe in prayer, please pray for them today.
In my conversations with people on this site over the last few years, I have found that there are thousands of people like me that are die-hard liberals, but have family, friends, co-workers, etc., that are Conservative Republicans. Many of us have tried to reach out to them over the course of this election with a lot of progress, but also with a lot of failures. Many people that we have talked to have been brought up in a background where liberalism is a bad word, where their churches demonize those that think differently, where we become the black sheep among our friends and family. I have experienced this personally, most recently, with having to quit my church because of their politicization.
Over the course of the last year, I have been called many names and had many awful things said to me including: you are not a real Christian, you are voting for a Muslim that is going to destroy our country, called a Baby-killer, anti-American, and every other awful phrase I can think of. But all that comes to my mind this morning is this: Forgiveness.
Today is a time to enjoy, feel proud, celebrate, and in any other way to enjoy this momentous period of history. But, most importantly, it is a day for forgiveness. It is a day that we stop demonizing, that we stop tearing down Republicans, that we seek unity and show what Democratic principles are really about. It is time to show that we will lead through compassion, honesty, and kindness, not through the politics of polarization, personal destruction, anger and retribution.
Today, this is what I pray and I ask all of you of faith to do the same. Pray that we will not dance on the political graves that came about last night; instead, we will show empathy, respect, and reach out for unity at a time when those we have been working against are completely demoralized, afraid, and angry. That we will seek unity and the better angels of our nature in a time where it would be easy to gloat and be boastful.
Today is a defining moment. We can do what many of my Republican friends and family members did four years ago - gloating, name-calling, and tearing others down; or, we can choose a different course. We can choose a course that reaches out to these people, loves these people, and shows respect to the people even that we disagree with. This moment is a transformational moment, how we act now could shape the next decade or beyond. If we reach out now, if we offer kind words, do not gloat, and find the best parts of our nature, it could change our country.
This morning, I listened to Conservative radio, and heard fear, the politics of personal destruction, demonizing of us, unfounded accusations, and callers that were demoralized and afraid. Then I got to the coffee shop that I sit in now and I heard a group of people on one side of me glowing and bragging about the victory last night. On the other side of me, there were two mothers who were sad and afraid. They spoke about being afraid for their children, afraid for their faith, and fear of the direction of the country. I couldn't help but think: now is the time.
Now is the time to reach out to these people. Now is the time to love these people. We do not need to convert these people now, but our actions towards them will affect our conversations for years to come. We need to offer them a choice between the fear they receive from television, news, and sometimes church, and the hopefulness and compassion that we can give. The way we act right now will either show them the kindness that we offer, or the combativeness that has defined politics for too long.
If there is anything that I have learned over the course of this campaign, it is the power of listening and sharing our stories with others. Remember these lessons learned. Remember that kindness, forgiveness, and love wins votes, even if it is not right away. Patience wins more votes than belligerence. Love wins more votes than fighting. And hopefulness wins more hearts than fear.
So today I ask, if you are a person of faith, please pray for the people that rightly or wrongly woke up afraid today. Pray for them to have peace and not the unease that we have had over the past eight years. Pray that we will find places to meet them, even when it seems there is nothing we have in common. Pray that others, like us, who are happy today, will show the kindness and compassion that we did not receive 4 years ago. Pray that instead of revenge, we will seek reconciliation. Pray for patience and even love for those that may not love us. Pray for the new leader of our country and pray that he will act in a unifying, non-divisive manner that we have not seen in this country for a long time.
If you are not a person of faith (or even if you are), reach out to the demoralized this morning. Do not try to convert them, just unselfishly show them love, patience, and kindness. If they are family or close friends, give them a hug and tell them you love them. If they are not as close, give them some kind words, or just patience, even if they are not seemingly deserving of this patience.
Now is a defining time, not just for America, not just for Democrats, not just for Obama, but for all of us individually. We choose our destiny here and now. Are we going to lead by example? Or are we going to fall back on the things that tear our country apart? Are we going to gloat and boast, or reach out and love those that are different.
This is our moment, this is our time, this is our chance to change America and the world around us, but it is going to take millions of us individually enacting this in each of our lives for it to come about.
Please pray or do something good for the people most needing of it today, it will make us better, create better relationships, and we can create a better country one by one. God Bless.
Update: Please Digg if so inclined.