The front page of the Honduran daily today.
"...Tonight we proved once more that that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope."
Inspiring.
I may live in another country, but I've been following this election more closely than any other election. Although I'm disappointed by the petty, back-biting behavior of both candidates during the final months of the campaign I'm excited with the results. And so are my students. Today we celebrated "Obama Day."
A few days ago I asked one of my 10th grade classes who they wanted to win the presidency: Obama or McCain.
"Who's McCain?" one student asked.
I was shocked by this response. Both candidates receive about the same amount of media coverage here, so why is Obama so much more popular? Very few students could give me reasons for why they like Obama, and even fewer could give me reasons for why they don't like McCain. But one thing is clear: No one likes Bush. My students wrote journal entries a few weeks ago about their opinion of the U.S. Most of them said they liked the U.S. for its shopping and entertainment, but many of them were also frustrated with the current U.S. government. For many of my students Obama is appealing simply because he is different. Although an Obama supporter myself, I'm discouraged by how blindly many of my students have given their support without more thought and research.
My two-plus months in Honduras have made me more proud than ever to be an American. The U.S. obviously isn't perfect, and we've made mistakes that I'm ashamed of, mistakes that often get rubbed in my face living here. However, Obama is right, last night we proved that our strength is our ideals of democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.
Very few other countries can honestly say "Yes We Can" and actually mean it. Yay for being an American and yay for four years of Obama!
1 comment:
i didn't pay attention to politics at all when i was in high school. actually, i didn't at all when i was in college either. i didn't even know that there was such a thing as an absentee ballot until this year, so the first time i've ever voted in a prez election was a week ago.
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