What is Wrong Here?

I had my 63rd birthday this past July at the beach. I kind of like that because I can use something hopeful and happy to look forward to and measure another year reached, another piece of existence enjoyed and another to look forward to. You know not every morning but many many more than should be the case, I wake up do my little chores, get my coffee and settle down in front of the computer as I also listen to CNN and the news of the world. These days the news is troubling and deeply so to me personally.

In 2008, my belief system forced me to change direction in what political party I supported. I left the Republican Party and threw my heartfelt support behind hope and change as represented by Barack Obama. The election was hard fought and heartfelt. I experienced anger, sadness, ecstasy and victory all in one year and it was a great thrill even before we got to the beach again in 2009. What a year! Do you remember those millions of people from diverse backgrounds that stood and watched, many with tears in their eyes, as Obama stood and took the oath of office? Do you remember the surge of emotion, the unstoppable hope that made your heart swell and your eyes mist? This was victory. This was a new beginning, a messianic like arrival of a new age of hope and change! There were young adults with children, young college students holding hands, middle aged couples embracing, old men and women standing weeping with joy and the silent tears that marked and tracked through their wrinkled faces stirred those of us who watched from our homes. And then they left.

One of the fundamental causes that was a constant and a predominant factor in these millions of people who supported Obama was the promise of Health Care for all. The people of the United States elected this President to bring these promises to fulfillment and to stay the storm of resistance from the Insurance industry. It did not happen, it has not happened and it may never happen! What is wrong here?

What is wrong here? Where are those millions of people who stood and cheered the new President and supported his cause. Where are the young couples, the young students, the African-American young men and women and the many Hispanic-American men and women? The answer is sad and I cannot excuse it. They are not there. I was sent a racist video after the election by a prior fellow employee of the Post and Courier. It showed a young Black women singing, dancing and rejoicing that she was going to get money, she didn't need to work anymore and that Obama would bring her the wealth she deserved. This was a totally racist portrayal, yet taking her portrayed attitude and applying it to an over reaching attitude of complacency that exists today amongst all the many supporters of Obama, you have where we are now. For some strange and foolish reason, too many of those millions think that well, "everything is going to be all right now because we won." We won? We won what? We won an election. That is all we won and somehow we all forgot that was only a beginning, a major battle but by no means did it mean we had won the war! We fell for the same mistake that George Bush made when he stood on the deck of that aircraft carrier and proclaimed victory in Iraq.

If somehow the Democratic Party can reawaken the youth, the minority voters and the many older citizens that sit now in their complacency just expecting good things to happen, then and only then will the hopes for change come to fruition. It takes work! It takes hard work and sweat and grit to stay the course from all. Get back out there! I tried to go to a local "town hall meeting". I voiced my opinion over the cries of the loud and rabid right wingers that dominated the crowd. I donate my money to the cause when asked and when I can. However a deep sadness comes over me because I know in my heart that his fight for Health Care, for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is lost if all of us do not participate as we did during the election battle. Our voices must be heard, counted and heeded.

However, what is wrong here and why are we seeing hope ebb away yet again? When I attended that "town hall meeting" around 95% of those attending were over the age of 55 and I saw few if any minorities and zero Democratic politicians in a Democrat's town, Charleston. Old people cannot win this war. Remember those silent tears that marked and tracked through the wrinkled faces of the old men and women watching Obama take office? If the youth and minorities of this country now think all is good, then I can only tell them that they should not weep for me or their elders when we go to the grave. They should weep for their children, because they had the chance to change this country and let it slip away.

What is wrong here? Ask yourself this question and then ask yourself if you are really doing all you can to win not just the battle but also the war. We can win and we must win but it will be as it was before, we will win together.