Our March into the Future

I interrupt this tediously slow retelling of the last few months of last year to tell a story only hours old. (I feel like Lucille Ball in the chocolate factory episode when all the chocolates were coming down the conveyor belt too fast for her to catch them all and it was just disastrously funny, however instead of chocolates it is stories that are piling up to profound proportions.) Anyways, through luck of luck I was able to get a ticket to see Obama speak tonight at Mile High @ Invesco Field (Colorado native joke, nevermind). As the excitement of the whole experience wears off and I suddenly realize just how tired my legs are from standing and walking at a snails pace in lines and crowds for well over three hours I just have a few thoughts before I go to my sweet repose.

America is a pretty amazing place. I know, I know, we got our problems - Boy! do we have problems. And for all my criticism and cynicism about the government and more often the culture, I can say without doubt that we do have something special here. It is that something special that does bring us back from the brink every time we get too far out of hand. It is that something that lead the founding fathers (and mothers, don't forget - Abigail Adams wasn't just a pretty face!) to stand up amidst a sea of troubles, against all odds and by opposing end them to start something new. That is what I felt in the crowd tonight. It was the common bond of something new, untried (at least in the past eight years that is). Barack said tonight that this election was never about him, it was always about us. Scoff if you will.... go ahead, I'll give you the time to scoff...... done? Ok, scoff if you will, but its true; as anyone in that stadium tonight would tell you.

I must confess there were a few tears glistening from my eyes. It was not Barack that got the waterworks running, it was the stories of everyday folk like you and me. One woman in particular, Teresa Asenap from New Mexico, talked about how her grandparents pushed hard for her education and then she realized in third grade that her grandmother was illiterate. Now Teresa has a doctorate in education. Where else could such a story be told? It is the hope and promise that makes us as a country great. Not our military or our economy, but the idea so ingrained that we sometimes forget it, that regardless of your past you can become any and everything you want to be. That's what America was founded upon and that's what it always comes back to.

As the French historian Alexis de Tocqueville put it, "The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults." It is now the time to repair ourselves and to return once again to the idea that our past does not dictate our future. The last eight years can be put behind us and the business of restoring the US in all things can begin anew, with Barack as our leader.

Wonders of technology

It used to take a camcorder (remember those? you can't make phone calls on them..) and some serious tech knowledge to be able to create a video clip, let alone spread it to a mass audience. Not so anymore my friends! Now an eight year old - literally - can become a producer, director and actor all in one afternoon! Ahhh.. the possibilities. Here is one of the best homegrown videos I've seen this election year and though its not endorsed by any particular candidate it certainly sends a message that all politicians should be honestly supporting. Here it is folks - America of the future. (Hopefully.)

Check out the video courtesy of MoveOn.org and also look at others posted there. There is some really fun, creative stuff!! Who knows, maybe you'll be inspired to bust out the ol' camcorder yourself and get cracking on your new film making career!