My participation on dailyKos began around the time Fahrenheit-911 came out. Eight of us went to the see the movie in the theater. We left speechless; sad, angry, disgusted and unable to talk to each other much at dinner.
Then the election of 2004 began heating up. We put up our yard signs, attached our bumper stickers and felt pretty good that the American people wouldn’t be fooled again. Again, we were left speechless; sad, angry, disgusted and unable to speak with people who voted for Bush once again. As for many of you, the election created a few rifts between friends and family.
We got through the next three years of Iraq, KBR, DOJ, Katrina, ad nauseum by laughing when we could with the likes of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Started watching Keith Olbermann religiously. Became addicted to dailyKos and other internet sites. But we still felt sad, angry, disgusted. My kids learned a lot of cuss words during these three years as I yelled at the TV whenever Bush or Rove or another of the administration’s minions said something else inane or dangerous or disgusting.
But Hope, Love and Community exist even in the worst of times—maybe underground, maybe hidden from view, but ever present.
So many of us talk of the community we’ve found on dailyKos. It’s a lot like one gigantic slightly dysfunctional family. We laugh together, cry together, rail against injustice together, act together, give money together, argue with each other, and most of all listen to one another.
In February of this year, my husband and I went to hear Obama speak at the Kohl center in Madison. I was a bit leery of Obama and his oratorical skills actually made me feel a little more cynical. And Edwards was my first choice. But I listened, and I HEARD and what I heard struck me to my soul. We must come together to rebuild the mess that the Bush administration has made. I heard the word “sacrifice”, I heard the word “hope”, I heard Obama’s version of Kennedy’s famous line “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”. This time around, we’ve done more than put up yard signs and attach bumper stickers. We’ve donated money and time. This time our hope is being translated into action.
Now for the more personal side of this hopeful story. Four years ago my son, our oldest child, met a young man in his gifted and talented class in elementary school. My son and this young man became best friends because of that class. They’ve remained best friends since and the friendship has survived our move to Wisconsin two years ago. The young man comes from a very impoverished background, has a single mom who does her best despite struggling with poverty and mental illness. This young man is bright, personable, warm and just a great kid. He spent a lot of time with us over the years and has visited us in Wisconsin, spending summers and Winter breaks with us.
Today we went to court and became his permanent guardians. We have three kids now; two 13 year-old boys and an 11 year-old girl. We made the decision to bring this young man into our family because we love him. It will be difficult, we’re sure, to manage such a huge transition. It will be expensive. It will require sacrifice from all of us. It will be chaos at times. He will more than likely disappoint us as we will more than likely disappoint him. But it was the right thing to do because as I said in a comment a few weeks ago, “we’re not wonderful, we love him”.
So, we have HOPE that our family will prosper with the addition of this young man. We have HOPE that he will prosper with a bit more structure and love. We have HOPE that we can weather the storms of adolescence and raise three kids who will be good citizens and free-spirited thinkers. What binds us together as family is hope, love and community and it is these things which will give us the strength to make it through the tough times ahead.
Did Obama’s message cause us to add this child to our family? No and Yes. No, because he’s been part of our family for a long time already and we knew in our hearts that he would come live with us eventually. Yes because Obama’s message is that while hope is important, it must be followed with action; and love must be shared; and community must be built. It will be difficult, we’re sure, to manage such a huge transition from the worst administration ever to one that brings hope. It will be expensive. It will require sacrifice from all of us. It will be chaos at times. Obama will more than likely disappoint us as we will more than likely disappoint him.
There is a temporal connection between our growing family and the possibilities that Obama brings to our country. Both Obama and this young man, our son, are African American. Our new son has the opportunity to live in an America who elected the first African American as President of the United States as do his new white siblings, new white parents and his African American family of origin. As do all of us!
Please join my family in welcoming our newest member. And please find the way in your lives that hope, love and community become action items in addtion to impassioned words.