Moments in History
Posted: August 28, 2008I’m only twenty-four years old. I’ve voted for one president, two mayors, a handful of congressman and senators and one governor and with the exception of my last local election in Gloucester City when I voted for the independent ticket, I’m a registered member of the Democratic Party.
In your lifetime, you only get the chance to experience a few moments that really become part of history and in my life, unfortunately, those moments have leaned more towards the tragic than the triumphant and no moments stand out more for me than the tragedy of September 11, 2001 and the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. I don’t live on the Gulf Coast and I don’t live in any the cities affected by either tragedy, but like millions of viewers I watched the events unfold through my television. 9/11 changed life for me. I was a senior in high school and many of those who graduated that year and the next and even up until last year…enlisted in the army. Each week, I read the local section in our newspaper, hoping like hell I never have to cross a name off the list.
And when I think of watching the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, watching as our government failed to mobilize and the media was left in the position of being the first responders, I remember wishing that it were 2008 and not 2005 and that the administration in power didn’t have another three years in which to screw with the country.
I didn’t care in 2004 who I voted for. I would have voted for my dog if she’d been running against President Bush. So I voted for Kerry because he was the other guy. In 2008, the situation couldn’t be more different. I’m not supporting the Democratic ticket because I just don’t want the Republicans back in the White House (though…that is certainly one reason), I support the Obama-Biden ticket because it’s the first moment in my lifetime that I believe in the guy running. It’s the first time I’ve made a donation to a political campaign (very small, maybe $50 total, it’s all I could afford).
Since Monday night, I’ve watched Democratic National Convention — the speeches and the coverage and I even watched some of the opposition coverage on Larry King and O’Reilly Factor. And yesterday, I sat through the mind-numbingly boring roll-call vote (I just wanted Montana’s representative to shut up and cast their vote!) but at the end of it, we had something that has never happened in over 200 years — a major party nominated an African-American for president and the other choice was a woman. How cool is that? In one primary race, the Democratic Party shattered the glass ceiling and blasted through the racial barriers and that’s a pretty cool thing to have been a part of, even if I only watched it happen.
It’s nice to have something good to add to the moments in history I’ve experienced.
