History in the making

I'm so happy to have seen what went down yesterday. Barack Obama was elected to be the next president of the United States and judging by people's reaction, I'm not alone! The streets were filled with people celebrating, crying, smiling, laughing. It looked like a huge burden had been lifted from their shoulders and it was time to celebrate. There is hope after all. The change is coming. In some respect, change already came. As for me, I feel a sense of relief, hope and happiness. I feel like I can respect the people of this country, respect the country again. The past 8 years have really made America into an international laughing stock and now it has and will gain some of that respect back. The land of dreams can once again be just that and people from around the world can look up to America and expect great, better things once again.

When I was a kid, I used to love watching American shows. The way of life was different, yet still somehow same as in Finland. What was fashionable here would soon follow in Finland. Some things we got, some we just dreamed about. This was all based on TV series and movies. Once I started to understand anything about politics, war, human rights etc, and especially once George W. Bush was elected to be the president and then re-elected, I lost some of that sense of awe, the respect I had for this country. I'm the first to admit I wasn't always able to separate the people of this country from the politics but after having T in my life together with the many wonderful people I have met through her and since I moved here, I have come to realize that the majority of this country is really not behind Bush, nor are they bad people. Yesterday just re-enforced that notion. Seeing the joy on people's face and how relieved they were has restored my respect for this country. I think America has taken a giant step forward and I cannot wait to be part of the change.

So far in my life things have sort of fallen into place. When changes needed to be made, they happened just in time. I have been able to get what I wanted, go where I wanted and things have worked out for me. One huge obstacle on that path was this election. To me it was about gay/civil rights against not having them, environmental protection against exploitation of it, live and let live against I want to rule over your every move and WE WON. Obama hasn't exactly been advocating for my rights or our rights but he was clearly the better overall candidate. This will hopefully mean more environmentally friendly atmosphere in this country resulting in better chances for me to find a job. It is HUGE for me and T. It is difficult to plan your future together when you don't have the stability that other have. Things that are available to American gay couples or straight Americans are not available to us. A House, kids, marriage/civil union/domestic partnership. Because I'm not American those things are not something we can have right now. Barack Obama as a president is a step to the right direction.

I have more respect for John McCain now than ever before. I do not agree with his values or his politics but hearing his speech yesterday and seeing him on SNL, he has my respect. I'm glad he's not the next president though. I don't understand republican politics and ideas. On one hand they want less governmental meddling with the business side, less regulations and free hands for the corporations to do what they want but on the other hand they want to tell the individuals what to do and what is right and wrong. They want to take away your right to love whoever you want, they want to ban you from having abortion and they want to shove their religion down your throat. Don't get it at all but right now I don't even need to.

As great as it is to have Obama be elected to be the next president and the democrats to get more seats in the senate and ruling this country, it looks like gay rights lost in some fronts. Proposition 8 in California, to ban gay marriage and to have a constitutional amendment that states marriage as between a woman and a man looks to be going through. All the votes have not been tallied yet but it does not look good. Arizona and Florida had those bans go through. The land of the free is not free for everyone.

Enough about politics for now. I have a physical therapy session to go to. Later.