(Image courtesy of Wordle.com)
Although I'm British, I've lived in the US for 20 years. That's right: I moved here when I was 9. OK, OK, 10. Or 20. Or 21. Age is all relative, right?
Anyway, when I first moved here in 1988, England was in the grip of a recession similar to the one we're experiencing now. The unemployment rate was high and many people were losing their homes. The US seemed bright and shiny and filled with all kinds of opportunities.
As a tech worker, I enjoyed the abundance of the 1990s without considering that it might be an unusual blip. I wasn't particularly active politically, and it never occurred to me that the fortunes of the US could possibly go anywhere but up. Even throughout Clinton's presidency, I didn't pay much attention. I thought all the hoopla over his sex life was strange, but I'm European--what do I know about what's expected of a US President?
I finally started to wake up when George W. Bush took office. I couldn't believe the reports of voter fraud and polling irregularity. I was even more stunned that so many people couldn't or wouldn't think about it. Whether you agree or disagree with Bush's policies, the simple mechanics of the election process seemed to me to be fundamentally broken.
Over the next 8 years, I became more and more politically aware. I became accustomed to friends from outside the US asking me to explain what on earth was going on here, and it became increasingly difficult to come up with a good answer. I watched us become enmeshed in not one, but two wars. And I looked on as the financial bounty left to us by previous administrations dwindled to nothing.
All that changed on November 4th, 2008. I watched in awe as Americans once again elected a smart, humble, articulate man to the highest office in the land. And this, in a country where just a few decades ago, that same man wouldn't even have been able to eat alongside white people.
Today, that man was inaugurated as the 44th President of the US. More people turned out to watch than at any previous inauguration, and the streets and walkways surrounding the Capitol were transformed into a sea of jubilant faces. I was glued to my TV all morning, as were most of my friends.
Through it all, one message came through loud and clear. Americans are capable of change, not just in government, but in every sector of the country. We're ready to adopt more responsible and sustainable lifestyles, not because it's being forced upon us, but because it's the right thing to do.
And most of all, we're ready to follow a leader who inspires rather than chastises us. Who leads by example rather than by intimidation. And who appeals to our instinct for courage rather than fear.
I've never been prouder to be an (almost) American.
