Reflections
Two weeks ago Canada held a federal election that garnered the lowest voter turnout ever. Yesterday, our neighbours to the south held their federal election with the highest voter turnout ever -- which would have been even higher if Canadians had been allowed to vote. It's sad to think that Canadians care more about who leads the US government than we do about who runs our own.
On the other hand, how could we not be caught up in the hoopla? The whole world was! The outcome of the US election promised to be an historic moment, and Canadians had front row seats.
And now Barak Obama is the President Elect of the United States of America. Young people around the world may not realize how huge that is -- what it says about the past and what it bodes for the future, but anyone over 50 is left tingling with the immensity of it.
I'm 57. I was born before television was the living room focal point. If families were lucky, they had one car. People paid cash or they did without. For as long as I can remember Fidel Castro has been President of Cuba. I remember the election that brought John F. Kennedy to the White House with his hopes and dreams for America. "Ask not what America can do for you, but what you can do for America." I remember Jackie in her soft pink suit and pillbox hat -- radiating pre-Princess Di grace, and I remember Carolyn and John-John playing hide -n- seek under their father's desk in the Oval Office. I also remember being let out of school early on November 22, 1963 and spending that free afternoon in front of the television, watching Kennedy's assassination over and over again. Even at age 12, I was in shock.
The 1960's were my teen years, a time of the Beatles, the space race, hippies, drugs, the Vietnam War, and the American Civil Rights movement. It was a time of people speaking out and calling for change. It was a time when age old values were questioned and new ideas set forth. It was a time of anger and hate and violence and love and peace. There were riots and protests, sit-ins and love-fests. Black power. Malcolm X. The march from Selma to Montgomery. Woodstock. Make love, not war. Get to the back of the bus. Burn your draft card. Burn your bra. Peace, man. Some leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. pushed for a peaceful change. "I have a dream," he said. But change does not come without struggle, and Dr. King's voice was silenced forever on April 4, 1968. Shocked once more, America stumbled but pushed on, only to watch another of its sons fall two months later. On June 6, 1968 Robert Kennedy, John's younger brother, was shot down after throwing his hat into the political arena and making a bid for the Democratic leadership. Those against change couldn't risk another charismatic leader catching the public ear, so sweet Bobby was silenced too.
But the seeds of change were planted and they grew. In 1863 Abe Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States issued the Emancipation Proclamation, thereby acknowledging the right of every man to be free and the equal of every other man. That didn't sit well with a lot of people, and Lincoln was assassinated two years later.
The change in laws and attitudes has been slow and difficult, and many people doubted that it could ever come about, but yesterday the American people elected their first Afro-American president. It is amazing and wonderful, and it fills me with hope.