words of hope

I read a lot of comments yesterday regarding the election. Many of them touched me, a few of them disturbed me, and couple of them just confused me. But this one, which was posted on the Margaret and Helen blog, brought tears to my eyes.

By: Red (White) and Blue on November 5, 2008 at 2:37 pm

I’m a Republican.
I’m white.
I’m straight.
I’m what I consider to be fairly conservative.
Yesterday, I went to my polling place and voted for Barack Hussein Obama.
And I’ll tell you why.
It wasn’t because of the economy.
It wasn’t because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It wasn’t because Sarah Palin is a dingbat.
It wasn’t because John McCain is just like George Bush.
I did it because I’m tired of being afraid.
And, what’s more, I’m tired of being TOLD I should be afraid.
I should fear terrorists.
I should fear Muslims.
I should fear gays.
I should fear liberals.
I should fear taxes.
I should fear welfare recipients.
In fact, I should fear anyone who doesn’t look, act and think exactly as I’m told I should.

Enough.

Yesterday that’s what I said and so did a sizeable number of other Republicans, apparently.
Yesterday, most of us chose hope over hate.
Compasion over cruelty.
Discourse over violence.
Tolerance over intolerance.
Courage over fear.

THAT’S the America I learned about as a child.
The country where hope and courage overcame every challenge.
The country that holds Great Britain as its closest foreign ally.
Yes, Great Britain.
The same country from where our earliest settlers fled persecution.
The country that subjugated our forefathers’ colonies.
The country with which we fought a bloody war of independence.
The country that later invaded our sovereign nation and burned our capitol to the ground.
And we are allies.
Yet many of us see no hope of reconciling our current differences with other nations and peoples?

Come now. That’s just what we’re being told.
Yesterday, I stopped listening.

Thank you, Red (White) and Blue. This is simply beautiful.