"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.
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
A great post, John. I will forward it to my grown kids who are all big fans of yours.
Yes, we Obama supporters are all witnessing and partaking in a brilliant upturn, something historically momentous, a wonderful turnaround.
We all think of ourselves as living in a post-9/11 world, but as horrifying as that day was, so, too was Bush's response in our name. To our shame, we live in a POST-PREEMPTIVE STRIKE WORLD, and we need to make amends and to redeem our good name around the world.
RE your final thought about prosperity, as President Obama captures our imagination with a new worldview, we will have the opportunity to create a new and needed notion of prosperity that makes the common good a priority and doesn't abandon the needy. The gap between rich and poor will disintegrate with a healthier and balanced notion of what it means for a human being to prosper. We will grow rich in helping those less fortunate than we are and in serving the world.
Good job describing how you felt as a 20-30 year old. Though I'm no longer 30 something, I remember 9-11 and I see the tragic way that it has been abused as a means of controlling dissent from opposing views, whipping up a racist national fervor (Goebbels would be so proud), and abuse of power from those elected officials that should be under the jail! I have been depressed, and yes angry that it appears no one seems to be paying attention!
Sen. Obama has given me my hope back. Hope that as a nation we can come together to solve some of the many issues that face us as a nation. Hope that just maybe the adults will come back into control and restore a semblance of dignity, decency, and mature behavior to the office of the Presidency, and this nation as a whole!
This is a good read and I think the young people are getting it. Hopefully, the Republican tactics to stop the young vote--especially here in Virginia where they are harrassing college kids--won't hinder this great hope of change. Obama/Biden '08
John, this article is beautifully written, very heartfelt. It reminds me of the lyrics to your song when you say, "Now we see everything that's going wrong with the world and those who lead it. Just feel like we don't have the means to rise above and beat it. So we keep waiting..." I believe that young people are feeling like we may actually get to feel what our parents and grandparents felt at one time about a leader who could presumably change the way the world is perceived to be. That maybe someone will invest in us again. Maybe someone will listen and we won't have to conform to the world that was made for us, but possibly contribute to the world ahead of us. I'm 31 and this election means the world to me. I feel something I've never felt before during an election...Hope. Don't underestimate it.
A McCain pollster just said on MSNBC, their internal polls show McCain and Obama tied. Also, Luke Russert said, young people are not coming out to vote. Help get this people out to vote or this election will be stolen just like in 2004.
VOTE, Don't be fooled by the POLLS!
VOTE, Don't be fooled by the POLLS!
VOTE, Don't be fooled by the POLLS!
VOTE, Don't be fooled by the POLLS!
Obama-Biden in '08!!!
Hello young people, go vote early, go vote now. What is wrong with you? That is even more at stake for you, your whole life can be affected by this election! This is serious, drop what you're doing and go vote now. Take others with you. There's no excuse in the world to justify not voting for Obama. He lost in Penn to Hillary because a lot of people didn't bother to vote. Do you want others( low info voters) to ruin your future?
How would it be stolen if people do not go out and vote?
You know how the repubs love to say about terrorists, "They hate our freedoms." Well I think they are projecting. I think they hate our hope. We had better protect our president, should Obama get elected (please God). Repubs hate our freedoms. Obama will try to embrace them but some will not want to see.
I'll be 50 in January. I live in a pocket generation, too young to have been part of the changes in the 60s and 70s but old enough to have those attitudes shape my philosophy of life. Barack Obama is a part of MY generation, us inbetweeners who watched all of our efforts at creating a better world get buried under by greed - and worse, watched our younger brothers, sisters and cousins become the cynical Me Generation. All last year when John Mayer's song "Waiting for the World to Change" was getting huge airplay, I was yelling at the radio that you can't WAIT for change. You have to make change, and you make change in your daily life, one person at a time. Change - lasting change - happens in baby steps, and all the baby steps of the last 30 years have come together to create a world where Barack Obama can stand in front of hundreds of thousands of people and declare "We ARE the change we've been waiting for". Barack Obama is the product of 60s idealism melded to 80s practicality. What his detractors don't - and can't - understand is that he promises us something he has already -delivered- - the opportunity to make a difference in this world.
As a Mom of kids your age...I am thrilled to see that the future world will not be ruled by Neo Cons.
As a middle aged woman who has loved politics all her life, i get emotional everyday that I see that Obama might get voted in. He is different, he represents a new Americia...more tolerant, more level headed, more easy going..The us or them mentality needs to go...
I watch him and I remember the feeling I got as a child watching the news in the 60's of the riots and the tension during the LBJ administration. I cry when I see an older black american that is going to vote for Obama, my hearts fills with hope for the future and a sense of the past....that really shows how we have evolved....
This is so stressful for many of us around the world, who like the Americans for Obama are afraid that the fear mongering of the Neo Cons has really not come to an end.
I write this while I listen to McCain spewing fear tactics on CNN...
I hope the US stay awake and moves to a more peaceful, equitable future for all......
Beautiful post that expresses my views too. I know I'll cry tears of joy when Obama is elected. It will be so emotional to see our dreams come true and have hope again in the future of this country.
Please everybody, VOTE< VOTE< VOTE
We have voted already, 2 for Obama!
I am quite impressed by this blog. I admit to being guilty of not thinking too highly of any celebrity. I am glad he wrote. I had no idea this might be how the 20-30 somethings feel after 9/11.
Don't underestimate the power of hope.
Very well said! Thank you
Yes, well i do not hear either of them 'SCREAMING IT FROM THE MOUNTAIN TOP' - that being the UTTER EXTREME URGENCY FOR EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD ON THIS PLANET TO DO ALL THEY CAN TO REVERSE THE DAMAGE WE ARE DOING TO THIS, OUR ONLY HOME, PLANET EARTH. Most of what each of them offers are words to get elected, they are first and foremost POLITICIANS, and bought and paid for politicians will never be the solution to the insurmountable challenges we face as a species in this century.
you're right, the politicians will never be the answer. The beauty of Obama's campaign is that he has acknowledged this by asking us, the citizens of the United States to go out and try and change our future and stop waiting. and to lump Obama in with the bought and paid for politicians is just a little off base, he has built as close to a grassroots movement in our country as has been seen in many years, with most of his donations coming from average americans.
"I believe that children are our future..."
All you kids out there, please, I beg you please, as a refugee of Reaganomics, as a woman who's been outsourced twice and at the age of 52 still waiting for my life to stablize with a teeny weeny bit of prosperty (so I can take a trip once a year maybe or have a nice hobby..), please get yourselves and all your friends out to vote for Barack! "Pack up the babies and grab the old ladies and everyone goes, cuz everyone knows, Barack Obama's Show!!!!"
I was also 23 when it happened. I'm ready to end the opportunistic fear and scapegoating and show the world why we are a great nation.
Hi John- Reading this reminded me of conversations I've had with my 25 year old son. It is encouraging to me that the generation coming up is asking important questions and looking below the surface of things. ( For those who are seeing these comments as "spoiled or selfish" let me remind you that at least we have a generation that is looking at this as opportunity for growth and seeing the hope in a candidate like Barack Obama. At least we don't see John Mayer at a McCain rally screaming racist comments and behaving like a jerk.). Keep writing your beautiful and thoughtful music and I will keep listening.
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
