Breaking down the wall
11/03/2008

"Breaking down the wall..."

My son Hudson is a handsome, hunky 20-something with a young man's skepticism and aversion to authority.  His transition from childhood has taught him there's no Santa Claus, no Easter Bunny, and even the people you most count on can let you down and the country you want to believe is always right is sometimes, often, too often wrong.

He's been planning to vote for Obama ever since he was nominated, if not longer, but has maintained an emotional non-detachment from the outcome.  He was for Obama, but he wasn't necessarily going to get his hopes up. 

He called me today, heading back to Santa Barbara from LAX, stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, where he'd been listening to Obama address a rally in Jacksonville, Florida.

"Mom, he's saying everything I believe in.  He's saying, it's not about bigger government or smaller government; it's about government that works.  It's not about rich people or poor people, it's about rich people and poor people, gay people and disabled people.  It's about all of us, because that's America.  And because it will take all of us.  I can't do it by myself.

"He's also saying the most important piece is education, and that the schools can't do it alone, either.  Parents have to do their part. That means even if you get home from work late you've got to make sure your kids have cracked the books. 

"Mom, he's starting to break down my wall."

I laughed when he said that, but really I felt like crying.  Oh Hud, I know.  It's pretty darn scary, isn't it.  Getting our hopes up once again.  Starting to feel that change is possible.  That we could perhaps make right all that's gone wrong before...take back our country, stitch up the tears that divide us, restore our faith in each other, send a new message of hope and possibility, not just for some of us, but for all of us.

Obama can't do it alone, but he's made us believe that it's possible.

You go, Obama.  Millions of us are right behind you.   

* P.S.  A friend sent me this image from a newspaper in Havana. Obama symbolizes hope for the rest of the world, too.