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"At First I Got Upset. And Then I Started Pacing. And Then I Started Crying"
I read what the candidate's son said about punching the president and was mostly satisfied that he got steamed enough to go on record with his brash statement. I guess that's what getting all tangled up in the process does to me.
Then I encountered this beautifully expressed perspective which hadn't occurred to me at all. I wish it had.
therehastobeaway at kos writes:
At First I Got Upset. And Then I Started Pacing. And Then I Started Crying
I even wrote about it. I wrote about how even though he doesn't share the history of the Oliver Browns and Homer Plessys and Rosa Parkses, he nonetheless inherited their burdens. I wrote about how even though his forebears didn't endure the whips, the slashes, the examples made out ofs, or the hangings, he nonetheless inherited the complicated world left in their wake. I got upset again; I shed another tear as I thought of the serious black men throughout the country right now with ephemerally clenched jaws and stiffened fists upon seeing the Tagg Romney headline.
But then I closed my eyes and thought about how the big man himself would respond. With that catalytic grin of his, perhaps; or an understated quip. Or a presidential "I've dealt with worse than that", sans acrimony. Perhaps he would just smile, knowing he's already triumphed—because for one of the first times in history, Tagg Romney can't. And that thought alone was enough to make me feel fine again. A wave of calm immediately washed over me.
You know, he suffers the indignities. The calls for birth certificates. The effigies outside his field offices. The jokes about his father's birthplace. The proclamations that he is not smart, or "doesn't think like us". And he just takes it. Because he has to. Because there is no precedent for him. He is the standard bearer. He sets the example. He is the mountaintop. The one with whom the buck stops.
When Barack Obama took this office, he accepted a burden greater than that of any other man on Earth, black or otherwise. And for that, history will someday jump out of its seat and judge him not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character. He fights for that each day, just by being him. My jaw now softened, my fists unclenched, I set my eyes upon the dream, knowing it will someday come.
At first, I got upset. And then I started pacing. And then I started crying. But now, I just feel fine.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/17/1146217/-At-First-I-Got-Upset-And-Then-I-Started-Pacing-And-Then-I-Started-Crying
I even wrote about it. I wrote about how even though he doesn't share the history of the Oliver Browns and Homer Plessys and Rosa Parkses, he nonetheless inherited their burdens. I wrote about how even though his forebears didn't endure the whips, the slashes, the examples made out ofs, or the hangings, he nonetheless inherited the complicated world left in their wake. I got upset again; I shed another tear as I thought of the serious black men throughout the country right now with ephemerally clenched jaws and stiffened fists upon seeing the Tagg Romney headline.
But then I closed my eyes and thought about how the big man himself would respond. With that catalytic grin of his, perhaps; or an understated quip. Or a presidential "I've dealt with worse than that", sans acrimony. Perhaps he would just smile, knowing he's already triumphed—because for one of the first times in history, Tagg Romney can't. And that thought alone was enough to make me feel fine again. A wave of calm immediately washed over me.
You know, he suffers the indignities. The calls for birth certificates. The effigies outside his field offices. The jokes about his father's birthplace. The proclamations that he is not smart, or "doesn't think like us". And he just takes it. Because he has to. Because there is no precedent for him. He is the standard bearer. He sets the example. He is the mountaintop. The one with whom the buck stops.
When Barack Obama took this office, he accepted a burden greater than that of any other man on Earth, black or otherwise. And for that, history will someday jump out of its seat and judge him not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character. He fights for that each day, just by being him. My jaw now softened, my fists unclenched, I set my eyes upon the dream, knowing it will someday come.
At first, I got upset. And then I started pacing. And then I started crying. But now, I just feel fine.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/17/1146217/-At-First-I-Got-Upset-And-Then-I-Started-Pacing-And-Then-I-Started-Crying
6 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
I'm glad you are now fine. 
