11.05.2008

Driving Back the Darkness


And so it was that Gwaihir saw them with his keen far-seeing eyes, as down the wild wind he came, and daring the great peril of the skies he circled in the air: two small dark figures, forlorn, hand in hand upon a little hill, while the world shook under them, and gasped, and rivers of fire drew near. And even as he espied them and came swooping down, he saw them fall, worn out, or choked with fumes and heat, or stricken down by despair at last, hiding their eyes from death.
Side by side they lay; and down swept Gwaihir, and down came Landroval and Meneldor the swift; and in a dream, not knowing what fate had befallen them, the wanderers were lifted up and borne far away out of the darkness and the fire.
--J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Would it be all right? Would it be all right to go ahead and feel? Go ahead and count on something?
--Toni Morrison, Beloved

11.03.2008

I Believe

In 2004, after the results of the last presidential election, I put together a playlist for my radio show that expressed my deep disappointment in where the country was headed. I called it my "Break-Up Tape for America."

Tomorrow, the country will again go to the polls, and I have reason to believe the results may be more in line with what I believe are this country's greatest strengths: optimism, unity, dedication, and a willingness to work toward what is good for all, not just the wealthy few.

It has been a long and, at times, tiresome campaign. We have seen the best--and the worst--of the candidates. In the past eight years, the country hit bottom in a way that I hope I never live to see again. I lost a lot of faith in not only the election process, but the very character of the people who inhabit this nation. That loss of faith was, perhaps, a reflection of my own sadness at the blind eye many citizens turned toward the actions of their government: authorized torture, unjust imprisonment, unwarranted surveillance and loss of privacy, greed, environmental irresponsibility, and a deep cynicism about the role of the United States in the world and the capacity of its citizenry to resist such cynicism.

If, as the two presidential candidates have been promising, this is to be an election for change, I, for one, welcome it with open arms. It is no secret which of these candidates I think offers the best hope for this change, or which I believe will raise the character and tone of this country closer to its promised ideals. But, on the eve of a national election, this is perhaps a time to remind ourselves of the great power we have, on an individual level, to enact change ourselves. We need not wait for a charismatic or determined national leader to show us the way (although it might not hurt to have a leader capable of such inspiration); we can--and should--do this ourselves, on a daily basis, for the betterment of our own lives, if not for those of our neighbors and fellow citizens. We have, and always have had, this power, though the Bush administration has done everything in its power to make us forget this.

As the election has been drawing closer, I have found myself returning to some of the music I enjoyed in my twenties, a time when most of us are optimistic and eager for what the future holds. It is no great surprise that I also find in this music a feeling of nostalgic security that helps subdue, for a time, my great anxiety for tomorrow's election and the future of this country. One song in particular has come up again and again on my playlist, a song that expresses both the promise and uncertainty of the days ahead, and a song that offers, at its core, a firmness, a faith, in one's ability to meet those challenges, that promise.

I offer it here, along with these comments, as a kind of personal token of my faith and hope in you, in us, in our sometimes troubled nation. Whatever your political leanings, please vote. And let's hope that the next few years will do more to bring us back together. I believe we can be better and that we will be better. In short, I believe.