Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Fall from Grace and Carolina Fall

Hay Field
Returning home to California from North Carolina, I leaned back in my airline seat, closed my eyes, and listened to Neil Young’s Southern Man remind me of where I’d been. Well, sort of. I didn’t see Neil Young’s South, I saw WNC (that is, Western North Carolina) and its gentle land. Throughout the day of November 8th, the day following the midterms, I joined company with my Aunt Laura and Fiki, her friend and helper, as we celebrated as each seat was won, as the count tipped to the Democratic majority. We three women—a woman in her 80’s, a woman in her 20’s, and I—somewhere in between—we all celebrated the promise of change.

The irony is that the party of “Family Values” is being chastised to clean up its act. The people are tired of corruption! The people are tired of lies! The people are tired of hypocrisy. The people are unhappy with Iraq! And now, a new mandate has been issued: Get us out of this mess! Maybe the war in Iraq is finally being viewed as the fiasco it has always been. Lives are being lost, and we don’t really know why. Maybe we realize that you cannot fight an ideology. We cheered the exit stage left of Rumsfeld, we cheered for the House, and we cheered for the Senate. The Audacity of Hope. You will hear this again. Now we can hope that the 110th Congress can move forward and act. Now we can hope that the 109th Lame Duck does not do anything too lame in the last throes of its sad, sad life. Long live Hope!
Fall Leaves Seasons
Next Entry: Turkey Day

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