Tuesday, November 04, 2008

My Little Taste of a Huge History

As I write this, Barack Obama has been elected the 44th president of the United States. This is a watershed moment in American history. Politically, this is like the moon landing. Right now, I can hear celebratory noises outside my apartment complex. Make no mistake, history's just happened.

I started the day manning a phone bank for the Obama campaign. Called a lot of numbers in Virginia (which later went for Obama). Donald Sutherland was there too, but I couldn't get a picture with him. Here's the pic I could take...



Later in the day, the election results started coming in, and it didn't look so sure. Was the US going to vote for McCain? I had a hard time working. I needed to see the action, I needed to see the process happening, to be a part of it as much as I could, so I asked a friend of mine, Jules, if I could come with her to a polling place. This was where she was casting her vote...



I watched as people came in to cast their votes. Listening on the radio to the various states going red or blue, it was still a toss up when we were at the polls.



Folks, I've lived in different parts of the world. I grew up in the Middle East, India, and Canada. I can safely tell you, in no uncertain terms, that this is the greatest country in the world, and this is why. People, anything is possible here! You can be anything in this country. If you work hard with a goal in mind, if you apply yourself, you'll get to your goal. How cool is that?



Update November 5th:

Here's what the ballot looks like, with Jules holding it:



And here I am pretending that I voted:

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