There are no words...Well, actually, I learned two today that in no way completely describe this surreal experience so many of us are sharing right now. But, man, they are good ones. Here goes:
Imbelieveable! This was the subject line of a good friend K's celebratory email to me. Apparently, the term was coined by her mother-in-law to whom I am so thankful. She has given me language to describe the phenomenon of seeing Wil.I.Am as a hologram; while I enjoyed 140-word-or-fewer Twitter witticisms, cheers and curses from cybercitizens around the globe; shared an historic moment with my cousin sitting on my couch and a close friend, R, live and in vir-son through a Skype video call; all while I witnessed the dawning of a new Obama Age. Imbelieveable!
The second word, from my video call friend...Excuseless. Until I checked my handy online dictionary, I thought he'd actually coined it...but I give him credit anyway. His exact words, "I feel excuseless." I understood immediately. In that moment when an Obama presidency became irretractably true, everything changed for me. This man and his family, have accepted the responsibility of guiding this nation and thereby, this world, through not just the challenges of today and the path to our tomorrow; but they have, with complete submission, accepted the burden of personifying dreams deferred centuries ago on the bloody shores of of West Africa. They have heard and responded to the cry for a savior of this nation til now unable to heal itself for fear of actually realizing its ideals. Graciously and courageously, they are leading us in weaving a history that cannot be repeated, a moment that has no parallel in the American saga. And, they cannot fail.
Heavy, I guess, but what I know is that their success is dependent upon my own. As one of those Black folks who never imagined that this could happen in my lifetime, yesterday changed everything for me. The script got flipped as I slept, a mirror woke me reflecting my own responsibility to step up. Fortunately, no one is counting on me to save the universe or to change the course of history before I turn fifty. Seriously, all I seem to be charged with is handling the simple business of leveraging my gifts to make a difference in my own little world. I can do that. I feel (say it together now), "Excuseless." I have to do it. Period. Nothing that seemed perfectly excuseable to me yesterday seems so today as I sit here still overtaken with awe.
And, so it begins, my Obama-, K-and-R-inspired mission to live an imbelieveably excuseless life in the Age of Obama.
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