My First Attendance to a Political Event

My friend Christene and I got there early and stood outside in the FREEZING cold weather for almost an hour. We were having a good time and joking that after this long of a wait his speech better be life altering. In line to listen to Obama were alot of people that reminded me of what I might see at a Volkswagen event. These were my kind of people. He brought out a pretty big crowd and we heard several volunteers say that they weren't expecting this many people. Could it be a sign of things to come ? I was kinda bummed to report David that there were no protesters. NOT a One!! As I stood there I began to wonder why any of us get excited about these political events at all. It is hard not to be a skeptic when it comes to all things political but then I guess if we all bowed out because of the negativity surrounding politics we would be in a world of hurt today? So we go, we listen, we vote, we hope for this person to be different than the last or we wish the last person could stay forever.
When we finally got in there were no seats in the bleachers left and so Christene and I had to see in the isle, on the steps, where people were trying to get in and out of their seats the whole time!!! This provided for very close quarters to a gentleman sitting at the end of a row and very close to my left. I know my sister Jen is going to say once again that I most like my mother in this way but I am going to have to say that one of the highlights of the whole event for me was talking, mostly listening to this man tell me about pretty much his whole life story. He is a Native American man about my parents age and the whole conversation started by him telling me that he was a political volunteer for Bobby Kennedy's campaign and was there the night he was shot. That night he threw in the towel on politics never to be involved again until NOW. What an amazing story and what a conversation. We talked about minorities, Jesus, politics, media, and I saw him begin to have a flicker of hope again as Obama was speaking.
The most impressive thing to me was that Obama did NOT make a bunch of promises that he couldn't keep. He did NOT bash on other politicians or even different political parties. He did NOT talk about things as though once he was in office the world's problems would be solved, he would bring about world peace and everything would be rosy. He did however, say that if we as the American people wanted something to change then we have the most power to do that. He put the responsibility of the future in our laps and said that he knew that it is within us and through us that true change will really come IF we want it WE have to do it. I liked that. I liked that he said he knew that there is something to the urgency of NOW. I think he quoted Martin Luther King Jr. on that one. I have to say I went as an incognito, registered republican, and a bit of a skeptic. I left feeling encouraged and like I had been to a church service. My hands were stinging and tingling from clapping so much in agreement to what he was saying. I am going to do some more research of course but from what I heard yesterday I am at least hopeful for a much needed change.