One Brick Short

Oh, what a difference a day makes. For instance, when was the last time someone waved an American flag on the opening bell of the German stock exchange?

When was the last time a demonstration in Africa was PRO-American and involved not bombs and bodies burned in effigy, but cheers and beers and dancing in the streets?

The world has changed a lot in eight years, but our leadership has not. Now, as we run into a world where the bankruptcy of one company can toss the economies of entire countries down the crapper, the world pays great attention to what we do. And, by electing a new president, we have given hope to a lot of folks across the world that we are going to make their lives better, if not our own.

Check out India.

Better yet, check out the streets of the U.S., where thousands of people celebrated the victory by waving American flags, people who, until last night, may have seen the flag as a representation of repression. We may not have voted for Barack Obama, but he will be our new president and we should be proud.

We should be proud of him for sticking to a dream. We should be proud of ourselves for moving from a segregated society with separate drinking fountains to a society that has expanded itself to include those on the fringes, the edges or even in the middle.

It’s a new day and a new time. Let’s give it four years and decide whether we like it.