It has not been often lately that I have been able to be proud of my country. I remember the embarrassment of my first trip to Europe senior year of high school. I was visiting France with my AP French class following the whole "freedom fries" fiasco when the US was ostracizing a country and its leaders for doing the unthinkable...listening to the will of its people. The hypocrisy of that whole episode made me gag. My semester abroad was a little better though I often wished I could say I was from anywhere but the US at times. Why, oh why, wasn't I Canadian? It had been my plan at the time - finish school and head north. I'm happy to say I was forced to stick around for school because I think today, for the first time in a long time, I was proud to be an American.
So, my best wishes and good will go out to our 44th president. And also a good luck because the poor guy is going to need it. I am certainly ready to rise to the call of responsibility he put forth in his speech this afternoon and I think a lot of my generation is as well. Too long I felt like I didn't have anything to believe in and after spending a summer in DC, surrounded by its history and then watching this historic campaign and swearing in of President Obama, I think I do have some restored faith in my country and its people. It always seemed like we were paddling as fast as we could and getting nowhere, hindered by party lines and uncompromising "values" that cripple the government's ability to do anything of use. Here's hoping we're ready for a change, for compromise and a new future with a little more faith and a little more trust that we're all in this together and we can make a change for the better.
