More Praise & Hopeful Good Wishes

From author, educator and spiritual teacher David Spangler:

"Watching the election returns Tuesday night was like watching the moon landing forty years ago. Then, a man took a step onto a new world and all humanity took a step with him. Tuesday night, the voters of the United States of America took a step and because of that, a man took us all into a new world of possibility and hope. Watching President-Elect Barack Obama, I felt like I'd been waiting for this moment most of my life. As tears of joy and exclamations of wonder and delight burst forth from Americans of all color and race, I felt for this evening I was seeing the true America, the United States that can rise to be a planetary nation, a place of blessing for all peoples and all life. This was echoed in Senator McCain's gracious concession speech and in President Bush's marvelous and graceful statement of appreciation for the significance of Obama's victory at a news conference the next morning from the Rose Garden.

Obama decreed that no fireworks be set off as a victory celebration over Grant Park in Chicago because he felt it was inappropriate to the solemn tasks ahead of us and because this was not a triumph over an opponent but an opening to working together as a community to meet those tasks. But the fireworks were still there in our hearts and you could see the light of their explosions in the eyes of those who watched the returns and saw a black man—a family man, a loving man—step forth to take on the burden of our common future.

There is hard work and sacrifice ahead for all of us; the promise of the election will not be realized overnight, nor even, as the President-Elect said, in four years. The challenges ahead are immense. But for a shining moment the best in us rose to the surface and said to those challenges and to our future, "Yes, we can!" It was a truly spiritual moment, a moment transcending politics, a moment that all the world has joined with us in rejoicing. It was—and is—a moment of hope.

And now we all move forward, not into Utopia but into the bright freshness that each day always brings every day of our lives, vibrant with promise even when filled with challenge. The spirit within us is inexhaustible, and to it, each day is like the first day of creation. Possibilities abound, and love is but a choice away from being the radiant power of our lives. We forget this, and when we do, life can press down upon us and we feel shadowed. But then there are those moments, precious and empowering, when we remember. We remember who we are and what we can do and the promise of the light within us.

Tuesday night, when a black man of a minority population and of global ancestry was voted into the most powerful office in the world on a wave of transformation and hope, was one of those moments. Tuesday night, we all remembered."

David Spangler is founder of the Lorian Association.