"Hope" Is Not a Buzz Word
I was 23 years old when the nation was attacked on September 11, 2001. I can remember hearing pundits say "this changes everything" and "things will never be the same." Obviously it was a tragic and traumatic event, but that sentiment has carried on through the better part of my twenties. If you were 43 years old on that day, I would imagine it was a difficult concept to get your head around as well, but if you were a young adult just entering his or her individual life, there was an added twist; how can you process the idea of everything changing and things never being the same when you have no point of reference for what "everything" and "the same" is? I was just beginning to put my hands on the world around me, to interact and engage with it, and to actualize the dream of being an adult in a free society. To wait in line for 23 years only to have the "sorry, future canceled" sign flipped in my face was depressing, to say the least.
The social and political narrative of the last eight years, if you're a young adult, has been "you are the first generation of the second half of the rest of human existence." That's a huge psychological undertaking, and I believe it's one that will someday be diagnosed on a massive scale as having led to a kind of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. (Something has to explain away our premature obsession with 1980s nostalgia.) My generation has come to know itself as the generation that should have seen the good days, my, were they spectacular, now take off your shoes and place them on the belt.
What Barack Obama says to me is these days are good for something. Just when I'd thought my only role as an adult was to help shoulder the nation through its darkest days (known to us as "the rest of them"), Obama gives me the feeling that I could be alive to witness one of the most brilliant upturns in a country's history. Imagine that -- a young adult in this day and age being given something to someday brag to his children about having being alive to witness. What a concept.
That's why hope is a worthwhile commodity. To those who question whether hope is a tangible product worth building a campaign around, I'd say take a look at despair and how powerful that has been in reshaping how people think and live. I believe the definition of the "hope" that Barack Obama enthuses operates on the unspoken thesis that there has to be a polar opposite to the despair of 9/11. Because if we accept that there's not, the will to live becomes forever altered. To adults who will vote for him, Barack Obama represents a return to prosperity. To the youth, he represents an introduction to it.
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Good column!
As a twentysomething, this piece makes me slightly dislike myself for loving Obama.
If you have problems of ANY kind at the polls on Tuesday, DO NOT LEAVE the booth you are in...call over a polling place official and make them investigate the problem...
Good ideas.
Oh John, I was so touched by this piece that I just sent copies of it out to all my 20 and 30-something nieces and nephews (and one sister and brother-in-law). It made me understand them in a way I never had before reading this. It also gave me a chance to remind them to vote early for Barack (and bring their friends). I think you really hit the nail on the head and I appreciate you articulating your point of view so clearly. Thanks and next week...HOP
John, thank you for expressing so eloquently what many of my generation have struggled with for the last 8 years. I'm not an American citizen but I feel the same hope you are expressing when it comes to Obama. The politics of fear versus hope has and will impact all of us around the world.
P.S. I've admired your music for many, many years now. Thank you and may you always stay where the light is...
That was so touching! Thank you so much for that personal perspective. I too had given up much hope of a real future, and was ready to sink in to that depressing realization of just "settling". Just existing but not LIVING. Just 'getting by' but not getting ahead. Obama has restored my entire outlook on life and the possibilities of the future. I know this will be a difficult task for him considering how much is screwed up already, but knowing this... I am ready and willing to give him the time and space he needs to get it done. Because, I have NO DOUBT he will in fact get it done. If somehow McCain manages to steal this election, as we all know the Bush-ites and Rove's know how to do, then I feel we're in for an even bleaker future than we had under Bush. The mere thought of a VP Palin gives me nightmares. The thought of McCain's finger on that red button puts me on the verge of a heart attack! So, PLEASE...e
Hi there... please don't let the outcome of this election control your life! All this talk from "both" parties of "gloom and doom" if the wrong party wins doesn't have to be! This is still America... opportunities still abound all around us! It's still the greatest country in the world - no matter who wins!!! 9/11 was a dark and very sad time for a while, but it did "not" change my life for the worst! My life was good before that, and it was still good after! Nothing changed for me except tighter security in the airports! Maybe I'm sheltered where I live in the country, as I really can't identify with how everyone thinks things got so bad after 9/11...
Yes, you have been sheltered.
Open your eyes and see what devastation and abject poverty your party has caused.
Have you listened to your people in the election cycle?
Have you heard the obscenities spoken and displayed?
Unfortunately you are part of the low information voter group.
Please think - before you pull that lever.
I don't understand the doom and gloom. I too was age 23 when 9/11/ happened. Those were dark days for a while, but, at least in my world, things returned back to normal pretty quickly after that. Sometimes when bad things happen, you have to look at is as a challenge - and even in those days when we were threatened by terrorists, it just made life seem like more of an adventure.
Absolutely right! What an adventure!
We entered a war based on lies. We have had our civil rights battered by a president who uses the Constitution as toilet paper. The economy is falling apart, our education system leaves every child behind, and our energy policy benefits no one except the rich and powerful executives of the oil companies.
How good of your god to send us such an adventure!
I'm sorry that you see it that way. I'm afraid that until you stop focusing on the negative and took a look at the all the positives and things you have to be thankful for (of which I am sure there are many), life will never be good for you.
Honestly, the only thing that really changed for me after 9/11 is tighter security at the airports. Other than that, everything seems normal. I do live in a strong economic area of the country though, so perhaps changes were noticed in other areas.
All of life is an adventure. There will always be bad things we must face in life, but it's how we react to those things that determines whether we let it control us. You can rise to the challenge and feel empowered by it, or you can let it kill your spirit. Don't let the bad rob you of your joy!
No matter who wins, there will still be problems in our country. I am so thankful that I live in America - I feel so lucky and privileged just to be here. Our lives are like a walk in the park compared to so many others....
This is premature enthusiasm that a Presidency by a Senator can be promising. I can appreciate your optimism. Dreams of a free society can make you happy. Without your dreams and hope......
What a wonderful post John. I am a former Canadian who became a U.S. citizen in 1998 after many years of living in the US as an "alien resident." This is my second presidential election, and I am so proud we have a candidate like Obama to vote for. I am now 52. It makes me believe in the process again (after 8 years of deception and incompetence). I, like many of the posters, remember so clearly (as a child) the tragic loss of JFK and RFK - and the loss of hope for something better. This is the first time in many years I have felt a sense of hope for our country.
Thank you so much John. You put into words what I had been feeling deep for much of my short adulthood. I watched 9-11 unfold from a classroom television my senior year of high school. This moment changed the world as we were in the middle of having our personal worlds change. It pains me that the for much of this race the word "Hope" has been demonized when "Hope" is America's greatest export.
As a twenty-something, I completely agree with what you wrote. I'm too young to remember most of the Clinton years and I would rather forget the last eight. I frequently hear my parents or others speak about the good days and their fear that we may not see them again. In many ways, my outlook for the years ahead have changed for the worse. Barack Obama makes me believe that things can get better. There's nothing wrong with giving people hope. If people don't believe things can change, they are never going to work together to get things done.
I remember going to work on September 11, 2001 and hearing the news in the break room. With a heavy heart, I went back to work, completed my day with tears in my eyes, and was not all that productive. In the years since, I have wondered why we forgot who we are as a people. I have wondered why we were willing to sell our soul to feel just a little bit safer. I finally saw what we had lost in Senator Obama, and it is for that reason, I will be voting for a Democrat for President of the United States of America for the second time in my life. The first time was when I voted for him on January 29, during the early primary in the coastal counties of Alabama, although that vote was not counted until Super Tuesday. I look forward to voting for him in the primary and general election in 2012.
Thank you so much John. I too felt that my world had changed forever on Sept. 11. My clock radio woke me up to the news, switched on the TV and my heart sank.
Hope is not a buzzword. Hope has depth and width and texture and smell and color.
I started to feel it when I discovered Barack about 7 years ago. I saw him speak and was drawn to him and that day I said to my hubby, this man should be our President. I feel hope building. I feel hope is right around the corner. I feel the hope that our soldiers will be coming home.
Keep up the good work. Hope now has a face and a name and is part of our world family. Take a look today at www.IfTheW
Bless us, every one.
Cast Your Vote!! Obama/Biden.
i'm one of those 40 somethings and let's just say i was less than impressed with our post 9-11 response , as for the younger generations my sincere hope is that while we throw words around like "great" we really haven't had many men ( particularly in politics ) that live up to that term but maybe , just maybe we get lucky here and Obama can be something we've not had in my lifetime .
Thank you John.
I've been waiting for this endorsement for years. (Literally, since Obama announced his candidacy). You created a refreshing way to endorse a candidate, something beautiful that I enjoyed reading. It reminded me why this election is so important and how lucky I am to have this be my first time voting. Yes We Can.
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