Why I'm proud to be American today

So I'm down right grumpy about election today, but as I read about it from my perspective here in Congo I still have cause to be happy for my country. Praise God for a country whose transitions of power are without violence! Praise God for a president who telephones to congratulate the new guy, promising to make it a smooth transition and telling him to go have a good time. And praise God for an opposing candidate who sees he's been defeated and graciously promises to do all he can to help his opponent succeed in his task. I'm thankful that we don't use force to determine the outcome of our elections. It's truly amazing.

I'm also proud of America because we have shown today that truly great strides have been made in our society. What joy for little old black ladies who lived through the civil rights movement to go and vote for the very first black president. So cool. And I'm happy that an entire continent can share in this victory as well, feeling that a great thing has been done for their whole race. People lean out their car windows and shout "Obama!" as I walk down the street :o)

So there is cause to celebrate America today! I did it by taking advantage of our tax dollars and eating a complimentary breakfast at the American cultural center. I even got a little Republican notepad :o) Consolation prize I guess! I also met the new ambassador who greeted me as "Linguistica" :o) Just never know who is reading this thing!

The world watches

I’ve been in northern Congo without Internet access for the past 3 weeks, so I at least have a legitimate excuse for this last blogging dearth! I figure to be a good blogger I better post something about the elections which seems to be the topic invading all of our lives, even here in Congo. I don’t have strong political persuasions (unless you count thinking that killing unborn children is a tragedy), so I’ll just give you a little rundown of what the elections look like from here.

Perched in Congo, my view of the US elections has been interesting. I feel out of touch but everyone else around me seems very clued in. I don't have a television, but every Congolese does. Not actually living on US soil, I'm not especially interested in the elections, but the rest of the world is. Today's experience was typical...

I was sitting in a restaurant with Heather licking an ice-cream cone. A man comes and sits at our table and proceeds to ask us 3 questions: Do you speak English? Will you help me learn English? Who are you voting for? When we said we weren't sure if we were voting or if we did who we would vote for, he pleaded with us to vote for Obama. I get the same request every where I go. The stranger today couldn't give us any reason for voting for him other than that it would be a change and he's black. I explained to this man that Bush was in fact the first American president to visit Africa in many a year and that he's given more aid to Africa than any previous president. Like everyone else, he didn't know that. Yet Bush is detested and Obama, solely on account of his skin, is seen as the future hope of the continent.

One night a few months ago I about fell off my chair when our rehearsal was interrupted by one of the common power cuts and a musician declared, "This wouldn't happen if Obama were president!" Wow! If a black man becomes president suddenly the problems of Congo will be solved?!!

My funniest (er, creepiest) experience regarding the election was in northern Congo where a man propositioned me, asking if we could make ‘little Obamas’ together. A Lebanese friend of mine was like, “What?! That’s so offensive. You’re a republican right? That’s political harassment!” I’m not sure if this is going to come across funny on my blog, but at the time it was hysterical.

My American readers are probably going, “Huh? This is all really crude and racist sounding.” I hesitate to post these things, but this is reality--and I got it approved by my mom first :o) I don’t think there’s any such thing as ‘color-blind’ in Africa. Maybe it doesn’t impact you and I that much to consider that a black man is running for president, but we are living in historic times and Congo knows it.

I find it fascinating how the world is following with such great interest the election of the next American president. What will his impact be on our planet? I fear many will be sorely disappointed because surely no one man can live up to the expectations of every American citizen, let alone 6 billion other people around the globe.

Still don’t know if I’ll vote. I got my absentee ballot in the mail, but I don’t know if I can get it back to the States in time. I might try to just for the sake of exercising my American rights, not because I believe any of these candidates are adequate for the task. I think my political strategy will have to be to pray really hard for whoever gets elected because he’s got an enormous job ahead of him.

“I urge, then, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savoir.” 1 Timothy 2:1-3.