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Keep Hope Alive
This e-mail was sent to me after we received the devastating news about
the election. It is a little long, but worth the read.
Let's keep our heads up Kerry supporters, our time is coming!
I hope this helps.
Hello everyone:
My heart is heavy right now._ I'm so dissapointed in the election
results._ I'm terrified for our country's future._ I feel worse than I did
in 94 or 00.
These next 4 years are gonna suck, no doubt.
However, a good friend in Texas sent this today -- from her good friend
who_lives in Cleveland with her family and works at the Great Lakes
Theatre Festival._ This is an_essay from a playwright and political
activist she knows through GLTF.
Kinda brings tears to_the_eyes and_some hope on a dark day.
Pass it on.
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Possibly Two Big Steps Back
I'm up early and don't yet know how this is all going to turn out or why.
I do think, in a democracy, that every vote should be counted before it's
officially called for either candidate._ Right now it looks like Bush has
got it, and it may well hold up that way, but I'm grateful to Kerry for
not
giving in to media pressure to just give up and get on with it as Gore
did.
And there's some slightly bitter satisfaction in knowing that if Bush DOES
win, that he will finally -- FINALLY -- for once in his life, have to deal
with the mess he's made._ Iraq, the economy, etc. went south on his watch,
and now it could still be his watch._ And every recent president has
stumbled badly in a second term._ From Watergate to Iran/Contra to Monica
Lewinsky, 2nd-termers tend to overstep and get caught._ And this current
group of scoundrels have ALREADY thrown so many bombs in the air that
we're already beginning to see some of them come home to explode._ I don't
see how they can get through 4 more years without a MAJOR repercussion._ I
also hope not too many of us suffer when they do.
Which leads me to continuing to think the weak things of the world were
put here to confound the mighty._ The confounding just may not have
occurred last night._ I thought Nov. 2 would be the tipping point, the
place where most of us would wake up._ As of now, it looks like most of
this country has
chosen the fantasy over reality._ More of our people want the stories Mr.
Bush tells us.
Which does anger me._ It angers me that the bad guys are going unpunished
for now._ That the So-Called-Liberal-Media bought and propagated the
fantasy stories spun by these people and seem to be rewarded for doing
so._ That my state of Ohio could be slipping further away from the home of
moderate liberalism it used to be and more toward being the Mississippi of
the north.
BUT.
I'm hopeful._ I saw with my own eyes yesterday, as did most of you, what
this country can still be._ I saw people so passionate about making their
voices heard that they stood for hours -- HOURS -- in the rain and heat
and cold to cast their ballot._ I saw young people who'd never voted and
no one
would ever think WOULD vote._ I saw one man at my polling place in
Clevelandwho had a broken hip, who was driven up close to the door of our
polling place, and pulling himself out on his crutches, wincing with EVERY
SINGLE STEP, though the rain and deep puddles, he made it into the voting
booth
because "I'll be damned if anything is going to keep me from voting this
time."_ All I could do was hold an umbrella for him and keep saying "Thank
you."
These are the things movements are built on._ This kind of passion, hope,
alliances, and determination._ The Republicans have been building theirs
for 40 years, and the progressives have only really started in 2003._ Even
if we lose this particular battle, we are still the groundwork for a
movement that I think ultimately MUST win._ Because it's based on truth
and courage and compassion._ And thoughout history, these have ALWAYS won
out._ Not when we'd like them to necessarily, but eventually.
So I'm in it for the long haul._ A lot of me wants to curl in with my
family and pull away from the world today, to regroup and get my
bearings._ But I don't have that option -- I fly out of town in two hours
to work on a play in North Carolina._ I'm going to have to be out in the
bigger world, a world of strangers and new friends.
Just as we all are.
Mr. Bush and company would like nothing better than for us all to curl in
with our families and pull away from the world and become depressed, so
they can get on with the business of ruling us._ I think not._ It's still
our job to make this a country we can truly call home._ Regardless of who
wins, that
doesn't change._ And Mr. Bush can delay us from that goal._ But he can't
stop us.
If it's okay with you all, I'll keep you posted on the struggle._ Thank
you all for your kind words and support these last few months.
I'm going out into the world._ See you there.
Peace,
Eric C.
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