Due to the generosity of some people I know, I am now the proud owner of a Barack Obama for President long sleeved shirt. I have been wearing it all week, getting positive comments along the way. But I got a reaction on Thursday afternoon, that I never could have expected. I have been getting goosebumps every time I tell the story, and I’m getting goosebumps now as I type.
I had an appointment on Thursday afternoon with my oral surgeon. (I have TMJ, which is also called lock jaw, and I’m being treated for it.) Since it was my first visit with this particular doctor, I was sent to the waiting room to fill out the hundred pages of medical information. And I took my seat and began to fill out the paperwork. All of a sudden, I hear “Yes we can… Yes we did!…” I look up to see where the voice was coming from. There was a man of color (probably in his 50’s) sitting across from me, who had a big smile on his face. He pointed to my shirt and just nodded in agreement. I smiled back and said that I had been wearing the shirt with pride all week, and thank goodness for washing machines. He laughed and simply said again “Yes we did, yes we did.” He was called to see the doctor at that moment, so I didn’t have a chance to talk with him.
But at that moment, I KNEW truly what it meant to have Barack Obama be elected to be our next president. If nothing else, it means that the conversation between the generations, between the races, between the genders, between people of different abilities and so on (as Barack Obama said in his speech in Chicago Tuesday night), now takes on a whole different meaning. I don’t know if this gentleman and I would have talked before this election, not because we are of different races, but because I was doing the heavy paperwork. But this election opened up something in each of us. It has given us the freedom to communicate at a different level. A deeper level. And I for one am grateful for that.
And so to the gentleman at the doctor’s office. Thank you for connecting with me, and “Yes we did…”
