Shock and Awe

I've been wanting to post some reflections on this election for a few days now, but haven't had any time until now....

When I went to sleep on Monday night, I felt a vague sense of anxiety. I wasn't sure what it was all about, but I dreamt about the elections, and woke up in the middle of the night with this eery sense that I finally understood what Carl Jung meant when he talked about the power of archetypes. Archetypes (as I understand them) are those facets of the 'collective unconscious' that all humans can resonate with, because they exist at a level that goes beyond the personal or even cultural. The 'hero' is an archetype. The 'lover' is another archetype. These are personal symbols. But I would guess that racism is a type of archetype--at the very least oppression is. And democracy (literally the power of the people) is another archetype. Change, and resistance to change, both have deep archetypal senses to them. And archetypes play extremely powerful roles in our subconscious, often directing our behavior in ways we can barely fathom. And so it struck me at 2am, that this election had a lot of archetypes going on. The symbolism underlying this election was, to me, as strong if not stronger than the actual policies at stake. And this made me hugely nervous. Historically, and personally, archetypal shifts generate a lot of upheaval. And the history of non-violent democratic change is still relatively young. When emotions run this deep and broad, humans become capable of their best and worst actions. So yes, I was nervous.

But Tuesday went off gloriously. Not because the candidate I favored won, but because there does not seem to have been any sense of undue complications or aggression. This alone, to me, is a miracle. When the results started to come in, and the networks called it at 11pm, John McCain gave a gracious speech with the powerful words "the people have spoken clearly." With that, he blessed the incoming President.

And then it began to sink in for me. I realised the world had just shifted cataclysmically. I'm still trying to understand why. I'm not sure I ever will. I know it has to do with the breaking of the bondage of racism on this country. I know it has to do with the tears of joy and heads held higher that my African and African-American friends have experienced. I think it has to do with the children across the world who see in Obama some resonance to their own multi-culturalism and embrace of a global identity over simply national identity. I suspect it has to do with the hopes many of us have for wisdom and maturity and reality to be reinstated at the highest levels of leadership in this country. But whatever it is, it resonated around the world. It showed how much people other countries still want to look to America to lead and inspire. And how the world held it's breath while waiting to see what America would do.

The fact that we as a country created this movement for change, and did it non-violently, speaks volumes louder of the power of freedom and democracy than any 'shock and awe' tactic we would ever be able to contrive.

And while it's true that most people I know supported Obama, I have seen those who supported McCain share equally in the joy that is watching a country deal a death blow to the chains that bound it, for we are not more free than our brothers and sisters are bound. Their liberation is our own liberation.

This election doesn't just give hope for the overturning of deeply entrenched racism, but of the overall ability of America, as a democratic system, to wrestle, struggle and grapple with its call to 'mend its every flaw'. There is still bondage, but we have seen how change can happen, and in the past few days I have seen, heard and felt hope break into the dreams of blacks, whites, males, females, Christians, Muslims, adults and children. For this I am truly grateful, and to be an American at this time, I am truly glad.