The Star Spangled Banner's going back on display this year. It's been restored and patched up and loved on by gentle hands. It's a fragile fabric, and deserves tender care.
This morning, I stood quietly in line with my neighbors and cast my vote to peacefully change our government. That the particular event of Election Day has occured regularly and peacefully in our country really is a miracle.
From the steps of the high school where I waited, the Capitol dome could be clearly seen. And here was a "Good morning," and "Nice to see you," and "Don't worry - we'll hold your place in line."
And so this morning with a small library pencil to connect the pieces of a broken arrow, I put my little stitch into the history and the future of my country, which is also fragile, has had to be patched up from time to time, and deserves a tender care.
There were people helping their elderly Nana's and Aunts, whole families, and some who said, "Oh, I hope - I hope, been waiting 400 years." And that is really something. There were people bringing their sons and daughters and babies to stand with them in this moment, and that was something too.
And there was me, a girl from the plains of Texas casting her vote in the District, that's something as well.
Maybe that's the real fabric of the Star Spangled Banner - the very fiber of it, a nation standing together pulling together for our future. A stitch there, a patch there, a friendly poll worker, a chance to change what comes for us.
Go put your stitch in. And as a dear friend told me, "You've got to vote your heart." Not all the stitches have to go the same way, after all, the Banner's always been made of red and blue. Just completing that simple action, places your feet in the course of our history.
11.04.2008
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2 comments:
Lovely thoughts, Sara. I thought some of those same things (not as coherently, because I'd literally rolled out of bed to make the 0630 opening polls), but I definitely thought that I was making history by standing in that line to vote yesterday. I had Caleb watch some of the coverage last night, and I'll be putting it in their baby books that significant history was made early in their childhoods...
When I was in highschool, one of my teachers told us about how he watched man land on the moon on his little black and white TV. He told us that he teared up, and I asked, astounded, "Why did you cry?" Now I understand.
Watching Obama's speech brought tears to my eyes. America just took some profound steps towards unity, and I am proud.
Thanks Kak - it's neat to think that your boys will grow up in the after of this historic moment - they won't know a world where Mr. Obama wasn't president.
I feel the same way - I never got why my Mom and Dad cried when listening to speeches of JFK and MLK, but I know I can't hear the acceptance speech without crying.
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