Reflections in the Aftermath of Victory and Defeat

The sweet victory or the bitter agony of defeat are two overwhelming feelings in the aftermath of a very tough political race between the Obama and McCain camps. Despite where you stand after the election, the emotions that ran high and the anticipation that we as a nation, a people, a world felt are now cast into a pall in comparison to the feelings of anxiety that we have as we look at a presently bleak economic future. Though it is comforting for many to know that America has lived up to the ideals espoused in our U.S. Constitution, we wonder about the tough road ahead for the victor, President Elect Obama and his team.

We have only just begun to realize how powerful hope, a thing that is unseen, can be when it meets an unmoveable force. The election results are a testimony to the audacity of hope that said "Yes, we can!" when many voices were saying "No, you won't." So, in these days of tentative elation, I, like many of my fellow Americans, soak in the joys of this sweet, sweet victory; however, the defeated are not forgotten and though it is an agony to feel like a failure, it is an even more beautiful thing to see the indomitable human spirit rise up in the face of defeat and begin to build. So, Senator McCain and Governor Palin, I salute you for your spirit, made in America, tried in the fire, shining beyond the personal, triumphing and moving on...