A Journey

It all started about 6 years ago when I stopped believing in the United States. I found out that my white america was very, very different than the america that many other people experienced. I was abruptly and insecurely pushed off the "proud to be an american" ledge. I was mad. I was mad at my parents who I then assumed fed me lies all throughout my childhood. I was mad at my school, my church, and my religion for "hiding" the truth of the real world around me. If I had to repeat this journey again, I would still be angry. I would have still fought with my parents on the phone over and over again about the inequality that plagues america and the false claim that one can be whoever they want to be. I would have still questioned the christian church and its commitment not to evangelize to the world, but to provide physical relief and to heal and mend the pain felt by people across the U.S. I would not have changed the anger, because the anger was what I needed to feel. Anger at the United States was part of what drove me to where I am now. The anger was constructive, but the depression that followed was demobilizing. After a couple of years, I gave up. I would not listen to any message of hope, because it seemed to be false hope. It seemed as though the hope was belittling the suffering. God was not powerful and loving, she/he was an imaginary friend people made up to make life a little bit easier. My passion and my energy spent, I came to San Francisco.

What I found in San Francisco, I still cannot put into words. I CAN tell you that this city has changed me. The mixture of the crazies, the yuppies, the gays and lesbians, the disadvantaged, the hippies, the hipsters, the immigrants, and me changed something. San Francisco and all its san franciscans gave me hope.

I still feel anger to this day at the injustice around me. My hope is that this anger will never go away, but instead that it will keeping me fighting to change lives, policies, and laws. I hope that I never reach the point that I am numb to the homeless man asking me for money. I hope that I never make a decision to deny people their full constitutional rights under the law. I hope that I never see poverty as a "their" issue and not an "our" issue. I hope that I never grow out of trying to understand individuals' situations and I hope I never see someone as not deserving.

My hope was further extended by the presidential nomination of Barack Obama. And I am now happy to say that he will be the next president of the United States of America.



Barack Obama's campaign to the white house was nothing but historic. As I watched the votes flood in last night, it made me proud for the first time in my adult life to call myself an american. It made me proud watching the tears stream down Rev. Jesse Jackson's face. It made me proud to think of the many eldery african americans that never thought they would see this day come with their own eyes. It made me proud that my generation was essential to this shining moment. It made me proud.

Congratulations Barack Obama and Joe Biden!