I'm the black sheep in my family. There are only a couple cousins that are liberal (or at least voted for the Democrat) but the majority of my family is conservative. Hard core, even. I'm also the only one that rejected the religion that everyone else has a pretty strong faith in. Or at least I'm the only one who talks about it.
The last couple weeks for me has been stressful for many reasons, the biggest of them being the drama surrounding the election. I felt there was a lot riding on it and Shawn and I have been pretty involved for a long time. We've been paying attention and it's consumed a great portion of our conversations.
I couldn't be happier with the results, as you might imagine. But almost immediately afterward my celebrating came to an end. Because while I was celebrating, many people that I know and love were grieving... just as I was 8 years ago. And in the past couple weeks, I've heard things like:
"A Christian can't vote for Obama"
"If Obama gets elected, the moral fiber of our country will change"
"I hope you know what you voted for"
"Obama is a socialist"
"Why should I work hard so my tax money will go to pay for welfare for a whore with 7 kids?"
"Obama will make our country lazy"
I've found such comments extremely offensive and have been struggling within myself to figure out how I can be related to the people who are saying these things. You see, I believe in our new president. I find him inspirational and of high moral value and good character. I've watched him, studied him, read about him. I feel I'm an intelligent person and very capable, with the knowledge I've gleaned, in my decision making ability.
I've become disheartened and unable to celebrate like I wanted to. I thought this man would unify us but the far right wing people in my family seem to be determined not to let him.
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Today, though, things seem a little better... at least with one member of my family. It seems she's decided that God had a reason for letting Obama get elected and rather than bitch and moan about what happened, she should put her faith in him and pray for our President Elect Obama. She even sent an email out to the people who have continued to send negative emails about Obama, discussing her new attitude and encouraging others to join in prayer for him rather than demeaning him.
While I'm happy to see her give him a chance, I am skeptical about how long it will last.
Regardless, I'm still more optimistic than ever about our future. I salute my fellow Americans for making what I believe was the right choice. And I salute those who will accept our new leader even if he wasn't their first choice.
I think it's time we all come together and start working for our future... finding a way out of the mess our country is currently in... supporting each other and our new President and moving forward.
Yes, we can.
11 comments:
Yes, we can.
I'm facing the same sorts of attitudes and honestly, a lot of them don't know who I voted for yet. They'll drop dead when I tell them, I think. Or try and exorcise the demons from my body at least. ;)
I'm feeling so much more optimistic about the future of this country that I'm going to ignore the small minority of conservatives in my own family.
I just heard the Obama election referred to as a "non-violent revolution". That's a good description. If Obama influences culture enough to make statements like "why should I pay taxes to support some whore with seven kids" unacceptable in social discourse, he will have done his job. :)
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I honestly can't understand how two people can listen to the same speech and one see hope and the other ruin.
One kind of person sees him or herself as a strong, go-it-alone, me-first individualist. To such people, taxation is confiscation of "my money." Others see themselves as part of a community, where the welfare of one affects the welfare of all. To them, taxation is paying your dues for services rendered and to provide a social safety net. If anyone can show me a real "welfare whore with seven children," I'll invite 8 extra folks plus multiple boyfriends for Thanksgiving and have a chat with the whole "kids and caboodle." This is a myth, and it's time it was laid to rest.
One of the things I mutter at home to my husband is, "We live in a country full of Scots-Irish 'know-nothings.' " Now if anyone wants to fault me for that remark, please know that I am at least partly Scots-Irish and know plenty of 'em up close and personal. I was born and bred in Western Pennsylvania. My dad was chairman of the Republican Party of Crawford County, and as a teen-ager I did not like many of the things I heard him and his cronies saying about minorities.
Yeah, we do certainly need to throw our support behind our new President. I admit that I was skeptical toward the end of the election, perhaps swayed by things I was reading, or people were saying, I don't know. In a way I feel like I am still holding my breath with anticipation.
I do believe that Obama will definitely change this country for the better when it comes right down to it. He is young, vibrant, intelligent, hard-working, and dedicated. I suppose I am just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Can someone or something be that decent and good? For the people? I sure hope so....
Kudos to you for ditching the religion and focusing more on the spiritual side of life. That takes guts, girl! I did it too - at the age of 13 and still endure comments from family members and people I meet who judge me from the appearance of my life.
This was a good post, Amy. Well-written. Thank you.
As a Christian, I shudder when folks give faith a bad name with their sour attitudes and ungenerous spirits. Despite my disagreements with the Current Occupant, I never HATED him (it goes against my beliefs to hate someone struggling in the area of intelligence--hahha) and I never questioned his patriotism or good intentions despite his poor judgment and actions.
God has a plan for Barack Obama and I voted for him with every good conscience. I'm so sorry killjoys made your celebration less festive.
Great post! I really can't fathom anyone not loving Obama. I admire you. Lucky for me, I come from a super-liberal family so I have not had to endure this at all. I don't know what I would do, I find it challenging enough when colleagues or friends disagree with me. Plus I can just ditch them, but family you are stuck with ;)
xo
R
I did not vote for Obama, but not because of his race, but rather the agenda he ran his campaign under. However, I am happy to see that an African American has made it to the White House because it proves that anyone can achieve anything with hard work and a good education. I pledged before Tuesday that if Obama won, I would get behind him and pray for him and his administration in order for this country to heal and because as a Christian, I am called to pray for our leaders, whether I agree with them or not. I reserve the right, however to voice disagreement with any policies that I don't think are beneficial.
What is concerning me right now is the serious threats of violence against church members and anyone else who voted in defense of the current definition of marriage. When people are threatened with their very lives because of the way they cast their ballot in the most important exercise of responsibile citizenship, it is a very sad day.
For the record, I stood behind a welfare mom in the grocery line as she used her food stamps to pay for food for her 6 kids. It took 45 minutes for her to check out because she comes in when she gets her food stamps and buys a lot of groceries. The checker said that she often comes in the store dressed scantily and complains that the store is always cold. While I was there She demanded that her 7 year old daughter give her HER jacket since she was so cold and let her daughter be cold. I know that it's not common among welfare recipients, but I was stunned!
All in all, I remain optomistic that Obama has our country's best interests at heart.
It's been such an emotional election and it will take some time for that to simmer down, I suppose. I am so ELATED at the thought of actual change coming, at the thought of what we can do now, that I have a difficult time wrapping my mind around the idea that there are those who might be feeling as scared now as I was four years ago...and eight years ago. But I think open coversation, with both sides really listening and trying to understand, is the way through it. "We can't go over it, can't go around it, have to go through it." ;)
i haven't heard much of that negative stuff since the election, but I got a lot of it beforehand. I tried, (TRY being key, i did always succeed) to have a succinct and positive answer to each ridiculous statement that required not further discussion (but didn't eliminate the possibility) but made it clear I disagreed. Lots of people were shocked to learn that the pastors wife could possibly be voting for a Democrat. If only they knew that BOTH pastors and their wives were actually pretty hard core Dems. I'm glad we don't try to tell people who to vote for, because I don't think that's the place of a church, but I am also very disheartened to see the leaders of our church are not helping their congregations to see politics in a different way. We are not all the religous "right".
Right before I voted for Obama I was emotionally worn because of a discouraging conversation I had with someone close to me that opposed him as a canidate, let alone a president. So I might know a little of what you are feeling. In the end I decided to go off the feeling I had about Obama from the start...the feeling of hope and excitement and inspiration.
I guess we just have to think of eachother and the majority that did vote for Obama when others express an opposite view.
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