Dividing Politics, Multiplying Hope

In 2008, I voted for Barack Obama. As someone hoping for a better future, I loved the invitation to have "the audacity to hope." It resonated so clearly with what I was feeling at the time. After 911, I felt as if the world had shifted. It felt as if I got on the wrong train, a train that was heading in the wrong direction. Standing outside with my neighbors lighting candles in the days following that tragic day, I thought things were going to be different. There was an opportunity in that moment for humanity to take a different “track” and to come together. Sadly, this was not the case, as war and more destruction were followed by discord on a world-wide level. Someone once told me that if you’re not depressed with the current state of the world then there must be something wrong with you, and I understood because in the years following 911 we were in mourning and shock. But then the campaign for 2008 began, and I began to feel that it might be okay to feel hope, again.

During that election, I understood the magnitude of the fact that, not so far in our distant past, this country had fought for Civil Rights and Women's Rights; and that for a woman or a person of color to hope to become president would have seemed like an unrealistic dream only a short while ago in our nation's history. I also understood that what this country so desperately needed, maybe more than anything, was to remember what hope felt like. It was with awe in the possibilities awaiting the people of this beautiful country that I watched as a woman and an African American man were both in the candidacy for our country's most significant recognition: President. I was inspired by the idea that whoever won would do so regardless of gender or race but based on their own merit. It was a glorious historical moment, and I was most excited by the prospect that an intelligent leader would take the oath as President of the United States and offer us the opportunity to hope for a better future.
 
It's been three years since I drank champagne on an election night hoping that our train would get back on the right track. I’m trying to stay optimistic, but sometimes I do feel discouraged, disappointed, and even disturbed. I'm tired of the division created by politics and how this rift is  holding us back from moving forward. "United we stand, divided we fall" is our nation's motto, "Indivisible" is in our pledge of allegiance, and yet we continue to allow our political differences to separate us. Have we not yet learned that the greatness and strength of our country comes from being the United States of America? On the night of Obama's election, I had the audacity to hope that those in government, regardless of political affiliation, would rise above their ideological and political differences to become role models for the people of this country. Call me idealistic, but I'm going to keep on hoping because I truly believe that being "United" is not only our country's name but also our strength, and we should no longer allow politics to keep us divided.