The Making of History!

In the past few months - I have been amazed by the people in this country. The whole process of the elections, the campaigns, the supports, the cheers, the degree of responsibility on the individual level! And it finally paid off - last night November 4th 2008 - marked the beginning of Change.

I was fortunate enough to witness it and be present in Grand Park Chicago - screaming and cheering with the crowd. I have never seen anything like it before. The coming together of an entire city on the streets - the support - the love - the hopes on peoples faces - the connection that every single person made with another - just to express their happiness and validate it - in others as well. I even heard an adorable 4 year old girl scream "Obama" in her mothers arms - it was all surreal.

Just before the results - I texted one of my friends - "Happy Election Day" - in response to that I got a text back that said - "I don't Vote." My mind blanked for a minute. How can you not vote? Are you seriously kidding me?

After the election results - another friend of mine put his status on facebook as - "I dont really Care..." - I thought I was going to faint - in shock! How can you not care? May be if I sent you to live in countries like India, Afghanistan, Iraq or even Pakistan - then you will really know what it means to "Not Care." The only thing that is worse than war and hatred is "indifference."

I am Indian by birth - I was born and raised there. A country that is politically challenged - the people who run the government are the ones who have committed the most heinous crimes possible - they are full of greed, have no education, the don't give a damn about the common average man and they usually get their votes by sheer use of force and pointing a gun at anyone who wont support them!

The reasons are obvious of why I chose to move and live in the United States.

This country amazes me. Every day. I know no country is perfect. We all have our struggles. And yet the United States of America - is way more blessed - way more fortunate than so many other countries. And yesterday was a big example of that.

Although I live here - I cannot vote - because I'm not an American citizen yet.. someday I will be - but not yet. And it pained me that I was left out - I wasn't allowed to vote. But that didn't stop me for supporting my leader in every way that I could. It didn't stop me from praying towards it, for it. I voted in my heart and in my mind.

And when I see Americans who don't vote - who don't care - who don't use their individual power towards change - it just aches me - I wanna tell them give me your vote and I will use it to support the right people. I would like to use my power towards change.

I ask all of those people again - how can you not care? How can you take for granted this country that you live in? How can you not know that a country is what it is and what it can be only through the people who live in it. "You are your country." The whole is only as good as its parts! Wake up - to the responsibility and the power within you as an individual. No man can live in isolation. We are connected in innumerable ways. Whether we know it or not - we impact and influence each other with our thoughts and actions. There is no denying it.

So lets just wake up to it. There is no time to waste. All of us right now have the good fortune to live in this time and age - its the making of history before our very eyes - each and every one of us right now has the responsibility towards creating a better future - a different future. Choosing a great leader is just the beginning. It brings great power - to everyone. How are we going to use our power? What are we going to create? What will we change? As individuals and as a nation what are we going to do now that will change the lives of the coming generations?

Think about it - we owe part of our lives now to the people who lived before us - the lives of the people in our future will be impacted by what we do now. We all stand on somebody's shoulders. There is no denying it.


PS - A few quotes to reflect on :

"Although the connections are not always obvious, personal change is inseparable from social and political change." - Harriet Lerner:

"We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future." - George Bernard Shaw:

"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small ... Read Moreportion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation." - Robert F. Kennedy