"to those of you huddled around radios in forgotten corners of the world..."

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Election day in China. I prefaced each of my lessons today with pictures of McCain and Obama, the words election, vote, candidates, and campaign. Most of it went over their heads, but they all recognized Obama and shouted his name over and over, mostly because they like the way it sounds, but also because most Chinese seem to think he's "soo good, soo good!" They were praising him before his victory-- I'd love to be able to read Chinese newspapers to see what the Chinese media was saying about him. None of my kids knew who McCain was, and Bush's name evokes rude noises and sneers.

I was glued to cnn.com and msnbc all morning. I taught two classes in a row from 10 to 12, when most of the predictions were being made. As the final results began to come in, I rushed through a meeting with Simona (the head of the English department) and Betty (my head contact teacher) about English corner over lunch and flew to Ranjana and Serena's just in time for Obama's acceptance speech. We crowded around her computer to watch the live news feed (god bless the internet) and celebrated our ability to be proud to be Americans again. I cried.

We witnessed a historic election where our country choose a black President who represents the voice of a new generation, though the chorus of his song is as traditionally American as ever: "Yes we can." Although our country has an enormous struggle ahead that Obama cannot magically solve during his term alone, the rejection of the previous administration and the influence of the GOP in places like Florida, Virginia, and North Carolina was both invigorating and inspiring. America's ability to elect an articulate, well-educated liberal in a time of economic crisis reinforces a solidarity and need to take care of each other that I have never witnessed.

Obama said:

"It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice. So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other. Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers. In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people."*

Americans basically voted in the return of big government without any reassurances of its effectiveness, only its determination to help the many rather than the elite few. Across the Pacific, despite the distance between Chicago and the apartment where we huddled around the computer, I felt that spirit well up in me, and I was proud. I truly believed that "Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope."* God bless America. (Yeah, I said it. I've never said it before and it probably won't happen again, for a long time anyway...so mark your calendars.) I'll post again soon.

*www.nytimes.com

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