Anticipating tomorrow

I just got off the phone with my mom, and much of our conversation focused on tomorrow's inauguration. The excitement I feel, and that so many others feel, is such that I struggle to put it into words. Frustrating, that -- my inability to articulate just how momentous this occasion feels to me. I will be temping tomorrow at the law office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Although I would prefer to stay home, glued to my television all day, mama's got to pay the bills. Luckily, GDC has set aside conference rooms with TVs and snacks so that those in the office can indeed watch the proceedings. Hallelujah. I hope I won't be the only one crying.

Politics is my favorite subject to talk about other than acting. Most of my reading is centered around politics and policy. The palpable sense of hope, forward momentum, possibility and common sense of purpose that is alive in this country right now is extraordinary. Certainly I have never known its equal in my lifetime.

For decades now, this country has been under the spell of cynicism. It seemed in some quarters that even muttering the word "hope" one was met with derision and suspicion. But cynicism is the easy way out. It relieves one of responsibility. It requires nothing -- not energy, not hard work, not diligence. It merely requires surrender. A shrug of the shoulders, a clever remark, a chortle at those still trying to create positive change. That's it. As I wrote in an earlier post, it is one hundred times more difficult to remain plugged in to hope and promise. Don't get me wrong, I do not mean to advocate a Pollyanna quality. The despair and horror that exist in the world need acknowledgment if we are ever to make progress against them. But the strength required to keep moving forward in the face of that despair and in the face of those horrors -- THAT is bravery.

And now, for the first time that I can recall in my 36 years, it is okay to declare oneself hopeful.

The pain of JFK's assassination, of MLK and RFK's assassinations, of the Vietnam war, of Watergate -- they ripped such huge, gaping wounds in the heart of this country, that only now are we BEGINNING to heal. It will take a lot more than the election of Barack Obama to complete that process. But finally, finally, there is energy in this country that seems to shout for community and connection over discord and divisiveness. As dismal as the last eight years have been -- the apotheosis of cynicism and corruption -- the current moment is vital and full and loud with uplift. I am profoundly grateful to be alive and to be witness to it.