Globe & Mail November 5, 2008: Obama overcomes

Are you like me? Do you feel that Christmas has arrived early this year? Yet this is not a commercial Christmas that I’m writing about.

This feeling I have that Christmas has arrived early has nothing to do with tinsel and toys or holiday displays.

I’m talking about the sense that the spirit which awakens our feelings of connection, awe and gratitude each holiday season – feelings which are so hoped for in our preparations for Christmas – is close to us now, along with the elevated feelings it brings.

I’m suggesting that, just in time for us to give profound thanks during our Thanksgiving meals, this spirit which allows us to feel love, hope and belief in our own inherent goodness, has swept the nation.

It has swept the nation because we have invited it in. We have chosen a different path. And we are about to begin an uncharted journey paved with higher ideals.

I wept when it was clear that we, as a people, had elected Barack Obama our president - and not by a hair’s breath, but by a clear majority. [Read more →]