The Rally

I am not politcal. I avoided everything to do with the elections for over a year. People asked if I was voting, and I wasn't. I replied, "No, there is no reason. I don't like Obama and he's going to win." Then someone sat me down and talked to me. They said this election was one of the most historic in our country, and not participating would be passing up the chance of a lifetime.

I decided I wanted to be part of it, I wanted to participate. I read about the canidates. I traveled a state away and missed class to vote the day before election. My hometown was buzzing, everyone there even knew about the Obama rally. They were jealous, jealous! Jealous that I had the opportunity to go and they didn't. That changed my attitude about everything. Here were my friends, united in believing in one man--when all of them had such differing opinions on everything else.

I went to the Obama rally, a supporter. I have never been part of that large a crowd in my entire life. The sheer energy of the throng gave me goosebumps. The crowd was engaged, excited, and validated--over a presidential election! The experience taught me something i did not expect to find--our nation still cares, and we care deeply, about America's future.

However, the most important thing I took away from the event was Obama's speech. I had never watched him speak before. His speech was perfect, effective, and direct. The crowd made of thousands of people stood watching in silence, desperate to hold on to every word.

It felt like the nation stopped, united over something almost all of us have disagreed about for the last 8 years.