[
Disclaimer: This entry is written by an Obama Mama and is only loosely related to diabetes]
* * *
Goosebumps are still chasing the electricity pulsing through my body. I feel alive, awake. I just heard Obama's live speech delivered from my former home of Minnesota, and I know, in a way I've never felt before, that the future is on our side. Science proves time and time again that for the evolution of the species, biology and science is always on the side of the future generation, of perpetuating the species. As (diabetic) women, we know that survival is on the side of new life--the life growing inside our wombs--and less so on our own side. We must be careful with ourselves. Evolution and biology will always choose, if forced with a choice, new life, for the propagation of the species and the evolution of human kind. It's natural.
Say what you will about politics and the divide between republicans and democrats, conservatives and liberals. None of that is particularly relevant when looked at from the perspective of the deeper truth and the broader meaning of this moment and this time in our history as a society evolving. I believe with every fiber of my being that Sen. Barack Obama is fated to be our new president and has an excellent chance of changing the destiny of our country. But fate and destiny are two different things, and as we saw in the last two elections, when forced to choose, destiny wins out against fate alone due to a little something called free will (and those damn
hanging chads).
Destiny is
fluid and malleable,
flexible enough to accommodate the shifting
tides of our personal and societal circumstances.Unlike the first eight years of 2000, I believe Americans and people the world
over are ready for change and the natural evolution of the planet and
each of us for the greater good of future generations. (Interestingly, in many traditions, the number eight symbolizes new beginnings and eternal love. In Taiwan, eight is a very auspicious number and when flipped on its side becomes a "lazy eight," the symbol for infinity, which is sometimes likened to God or Sprit or Oneness or Higher Power or whatever we call it, but I digress...
Back to 2008. Certainly McCain is "safer" from a superficial perspective--we've seen this show before. Electing him is not "wrong", but it will keep us stuck and grant us with the possibility of even slipping backwards. Say what you will about Obama--one thing we know is he's a forward thinker and we are being called, not so much by Obama and his camp, but by this very moment in which we live to step out in faith. Obama represents the mystery of the unknown which comes with change, and while it can be scary, it is also exciting and promising. It is only by stepping out in faith and taking a chance on something we cannot yet see and do not yet know that we ever evolve and grow. The status quo is safe and familiar, but it doesn't take us further into the truth and it doesn't support our evolution.
The goosebumps on my arms come from a deeper knowing that trusting in Obama's place in the White House and the history of this beautiful and diverse country requires a double faith that I believe we, as a country, are finally ready to grant. This double faith requires faith not only in God's will or fate or destiny or the natural evolution of life (whatever we wish to call it), but also a deeper faith in our fellow man, knowing that in
the end, the inherent unchanging and unflinching love in the heart of humanity transcends race, party politics, gender and background and goes straight to the deeper truth of every individual, which is that we are not so different after all, and in fact, desire the same essential thing--that which we are and from which we came: an experiential knowledge of the truth, which I'd sum up as endless and eternal love.
Obama is not "the answer," but rather a way for us to step forth and live the questions right now. So I'd like to leave you with a quote from 1903. The German poet Rilke said it best, in one of my favorite little volumes of wisdom, "
Letters to a Young Poet,"
"I
beg you, as well I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps, then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even knowing it, live your way into the answer."
Which do you vote for--the tired legacies of the past or the promise of
thishistoric moment, stepping out in faith and hope in the mystery of the unknown, which may evolve us into some future good? In my heart I believe that all of our choices are made either from a place of love or fear. Which do you choose?
[end rant]
Say what you will about politics and the divide between republicans and democrats, conservatives and liberals. None of that is particularly relevant when looked at from the perspective of the deeper truth and the broader meaning of this moment and this time in our history as a society evolving. I believe with every fiber of my being that Sen. Barack Obama is fated to be our new president and has an excellent chance of changing the destiny of our country. But fate and destiny are two different things, and as we saw in the last two elections, when forced to choose, destiny wins out against fate alone due to a little something called free will (and those damnhanging chads).
Destiny is fluid and malleable,flexible enough to accommodate the shifting tides of our personal and societal circumstances.Unlike the first eight years of 2000, I believe Americans and people the world over are ready for change and the natural evolution of the planet and
Back to 2008. Certainly McCain is "safer" from a superficial perspective--we've seen this show before. Electing him is not "wrong", but it will keep us stuck and grant us with the possibility of even slipping backwards. Say what you will about Obama--one thing we know is he's a forward thinker and we are being called, not so much by Obama and his camp, but by this very moment in which we live to step out in faith. Obama represents the mystery of the unknown which comes with change, and while it can be scary, it is also exciting and promising. It is only by stepping out in faith and taking a chance on something we cannot yet see and do not yet know that we ever evolve and grow. The status quo is safe and familiar, but it doesn't take us further into the truth and it doesn't support our evolution.
The goosebumps on my arms come from a deeper knowing that trusting in Obama's place in the White House and the history of this beautiful and diverse country requires a double faith that I believe we, as a country, are finally ready to grant. This double faith requires faith not only in God's will or fate or destiny or the natural evolution of life (whatever we wish to call it), but also a deeper faith in our fellow man, knowing that in
Obama is not "the answer," but rather a way for us to step forth and live the questions right now. So I'd like to leave you with a quote from 1903. The German poet Rilke said it best, in one of my favorite little volumes of wisdom, "Letters to a Young Poet,"
"Ibeg you, as well I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps, then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even knowing it, live your way into the answer."
[end rant]