A Moment Which Will Last a Lifetime

How many I'll-never-forget-where-I-was-when's are happy memories? Think about it. From 9-11 on back to Pearl Harbor, since we've had instant mass communication, none of those moments are happy.

Last night was happy, and we'll never forget it.

We had some friends and family over last night. From 11 p.m., when I heard Olbermann announce that Obama had won, until the middle of the afternoon today, I have been speechless. Me! I get paid for words.

Obama had it exactly right. The night belonged to us. People of good will never gave up trying to make a better world and, in the words of Allen Toussaint's Yes We Can!:

Make this land a better land

Than the world in which we live

And help each man be a better man

With the kindness that you give.

I'm white. I know what this election means to me, but I was listening to national African-American talk radio this morning and one-after-another, callers were agreeing to a remarkable concept...maybe white folks weren't so bad after all.

Funny concept to some. Serious as death to others. Serious as lynching.

We're all looking at each other, and I mean everybody, in a new way today. Here in the People's Republic of Portland Oregon, there's a quiet sense of relief, although last night, on my block there were a lot fireworks exploded and much banging on pots. I know that these feelings are shared by people of good will all over the world.

How long will that last? Stay tuned.

But it's still fresh. And if feels good. And I'm beginning to be able to talk.

I can say this........WE WON!