Today's Adventure

I’m planning on going to see Obama in Harrisonburg, Virginia today.  Given what we’ve seen around the country with McCain supporters, and in my friend’s area yesterday… (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL20TdHjX2s) I watched that and cried.  I feel like a big baby but seriously, it is so grievous to me!  I wanted to think better of my country but some of my fellow citizens are...  well… so ugly.  Ugly in the moral and spiritual sense.    

I have a hard time reconciling what I saw there, and around the country with my own family.  Who will all vote Republican except for my husband and me.  These are good people.  I wonder how they feel, having these ugly people in their party.  Sad.

I’m really wondering what I’ll see at the Obama rally today.  A friend of mine went to an Obama/Biden rally months ago and said that the people were very respectful to the McCain people who showed up.  And he said it had a good “feel.”  That is good news in the face of what we’ve been seeing.

I haven’t been able to find anyone to go with me today, my friends are mostly Republicans (the nice kind) (mostly) and hubby doesn’t think he can make it out of work in time to be early enough to get a seat.  I’m not crazy about taking the whole day off to do this, because it is going to kill a serious amount time standing in line and I hate standing doing nothing.  Then sitting on one of those horrible bench seats that makes my back hurt in about four minutes, I strongly dislike those seats.  And I really can’t stand large crowds of people.  They make me feel unsafe and claustrophobic, like I’m stuck somewhere I shouldn’t be.  I don’t want to go, and wouldn’t do it for the fun of it.

Still, I want to see history being made.  I think it will feel momentous to me to be able to be there and see how it feels to be in that room, and observe the parts that don’t make it on the news.  I have heard Obama’s “closing argument” speech already.  I’ve heard him speak often enough to know what he’s for and the language he tends to use to express himself.  He’s good at this, and he’s kept at it in the face of so much ugliness.  I respect that.  And so I think I’m going to make the effort to go see him in person, even in spite of how I feel about such events.  Though I feel very unsure of all that experience could include given the things we’ve been seeing and hearing around the country.  I will take my camera.  I will be praying for safety for all of us - especially Obama.