I know election day hasn't even really started in earnest, but I've already found myself overwhelmed with an unexpected physiological response.
Spontaneous tears.
It happened at first when I was going through my normal blog crawl, and I began to look at the New York Times' slide show of Obama pictures from the last day of campaigning. Was this really happening? Is it really November 4th? I dried them up and rolled over to FiveThirtyEight and it happened again somewhere around this article. Andrew Sullivan's report of turnout in Ohio didn't help much. I soon realized that control of my tears wasn't really going to be in my hands as this day moves slowly towards it's conclusion, no matter how hard I try to maintain my composure.
It feels as if there is a dawning realization that years of helplessness and suppressed hope are coming to an end. I attended Obama's rallies, I've researched his positions like crazy, I've donated, I've volunteered, I've talked to my friends and family about him. Yet, deep down there was always a nagging voice that would talk about the complacency of the American people, the power of negative ads, the ignorance and intolerance that still simmer just beneath the surface of American life. And those polls, oh those damn polls! I can't imagine a worse creation for anyone who prizes the health of their nerves and sanity than daily polling updates in such a charged environment.
Andrew Sullivan's damning final endorsement for Obama brought more wet eyes at the thought of the thousands of military members dead or injured in the past eight years, not to mention the more than 100,000 Iraqis and Afghans who met the same fate due to this administration's criminal arrogance and stupidity. I've begun now to just tear up at random. Maybe it's the picture of a long voting line, or the story of a first time voter, or a memory of standing in our packed Obama campaign office. Change is happening everyone, this is real. Get out, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE! Call every number on your cell phone, get your friends/family, canvass, phone bank, poll watch, KNOW HOPE.
The day we have worked so hard for is upon us.
Here we go.
And in that very moment, away behind in some courtyard in the City, a cock crowed. Shrill and clear he crowed, recking nothing of wizardry or war, welcoming only the morning that in the sky far above the shadows of death was coming with the dawn. - The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien