It Happened

Unbelievable.

Last night, I felt something that I never thought I would enjoy: Being an American.

No rhetoric on the historic implications of this, because, well ... that's everywhere right now.

I will tell you, though, last night, in the epi-center of the elitist liberal elite elitey cappuccino environmental-sipping snobby snobs who think that things like "positivity" and "love" and "solutions" can change this country, I saw the best of humanity celebrating up and down the streets of New York City. The city was filled with people of all colors, ages, and classes, shouting, cheering, and hugging one another.

I can't count how many strangers I high-fived.

And unlike the Giants winning the Super Bowl, or the Yankees doing something Yankee-like, or a group getting together to protest ... this was a pure, electric eruption of a significant Victory. It wasn't fueled by testosterone and alcohol, the celebration of people singing the national anthem on every 4th block, the dancing, the closing off the roads, it was suprisingly sober.

And surprisingly non-threatening. As the howls gained strength through the night, there was never any fear that this might turn bad. Never any feeling that we may be looking at what the media would coin 'The Obama Riots.' For hours, thousands upon thousands of people took to the streets to smile with one another, to cheer, to sing, to dance, to celebrate a feeling of excitement about being an American.

My favorite line of the night came from at about 3 A.M. with my ears still ringing from the crowds cheering in the streets. I saw a kid in his 20s, stuck up in one of the few barren and lonely trees on Broadway and 12th street. He was nestled in a crook of branches 15 feet above the ground.

I looked up and with the biggest smile imaginable, he said, "It's ok. Obama won."

And yes, indeed it was ok. Everything was ok. Regardless of the political implications, we were observing the best people can be. We were experiencing the best people can be.

We were actually being the best people can be.

Personally, I experienced a complete paradigm shift in terms of how beautifully powerful humanity can be. This was the first time I felt something other than being ashamed of my country. Hell, this is the first time I felt that I even belonged to a country. Or that a country belonged to me (Awwww...)

This was the first time I couldn't say that apathy was the order of the day, that indifference was the default mandate for any American below the age of 40. It was the first time that I thought it was possible for humans to truly evolve, to come together, to unite, to create, and to celebrate.

We truly can enjoy one another, we need not be blinded by fear, hatred, cynicism ... we can have those things, but we can't be handicapped by them.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not giving up my cynicism ... but after seeing the absolute joy that overtook a city bursting with life and the hope that we can feel positive in our culture (hell, that we can feel ANY sense of what it means to be united for once) ... it was just amazing.

Even if only for a moment.

It is this feeling, this experience, and this memory that has the potential to unite us as a culture, as a nation, and as a human race. It was beauty, well into the morning, and I saw a spectacle of pure love, hope (and yes, change) that completely altered my perception of what human beings are capable of ...

... even if I did vote for Nader.