That noise you just heard was the door to the past swinging shut and locking.
As you may know, since 2004 I had been planning on making a geographic move out of the U.S. South, with my eye on the Portland, Oregon area. However, chances are good that if it weren't for Hurricane Katrina, I'd probably still be living in Mississippi or New Orleans. There were too many things that would have kept me there ... taking care of my aging parents, my job, and primarily fear and doubt.
Katrina took care of all that. Not only did it impel me out of where I was, but it left me with no possibility of going back. There is no "back" to return to, since the town I was living in on the Gulf Coast was virtually destroyed, and New Orleans (my place of birth) may as well have been. So making the cross-country move in the final months of 2005 was at the same time the most difficult and the easiest thing I've ever done. It was as if a doorway had opened and a big arrow was pointing to it: "Go This Way". Having made that commitment to myself three years before, to either find another way of doing this human existence or cease living, I went that way.
President-elect Barack Obama.
I'm smiling, because getting to this point, individually and as part of the human race, has been such a long journey. The road goes on, however. I am not dancing and shouting with joy. The happiness I am feeling is more subdued ... more a contentment, that all is as it needs to be right now, that a major hurdle has been leaped, and with a knowing that much is ahead of us that will require courage and strength. I know that what is to come will also have its rewards as well, especially if we have the intention of doing it with as much ease and integrity as possible. (Laughter and a sense of curiosity won't hurt, either.)
As for that doorway we all just walked through, once we take the first step beyond it, the door itself will cease to exist. There is no going back. By raising our collective voices in this election, we have made a commitment and signified our intention.
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