Retro Futuristic

Monday morning, Ace and I took Cyril to Denny's, and the waiter said we were "retro futuristic".

The more I thought about what he had said, the more I started to realize that this stranger had just described me in two simple words. I became obsessed with what he had told us. I became fixated on those two words. And suddenly, I made a deeper connection. Those words completely describe the way I feel about what's happening in America beginning today, at this very moment, the morning after the election of the future President of the United States, Barack Obama.

It can't be said better than the President-elect said himself. In coming together in this historic election, Americans have proven that "a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth."

Old people, young people, whites, blacks, Asians, Latinos... Americans... came together to stand up for their ideals, to stand up for change and hope and progress and peace. For family and freedom and health and eduction. For the opportunity to become the best Americans each of us can be.

But, throughout the entire campaign, I had been sensing this feeling, this retro futuristic theme.

I had been saying this since Barack Obama was elected as the Senator of Illinois...

He is my generation's Kennedy.

Senator Ted Kennedy made the comparison himself:

"I remember another leader who inspired the nation, especially our youth, to fulfill a promise of change. Those inspired young people marched, sat in at lunch counters, protested the war in Vietnam and served honorably in that war even when they opposed it.

"That leader challenged them to ask what they could do for their country and, together, they changed the world.

"So in the words of that leader, John Kennedy: 'The world is changing. The old ways will not do... It is time for a new generation of leadership.'

"I have found that next generation of American leadership in Barack Obama."

He is inspiring the youth of this nation to tap into the spirit of service that long ago had made this country great. It is that spirit that once commanded the world's respect. It is that spirit that brought this nation through the Revolution, the Great Depression, the Second World War, the Civil Rights Movement and beyond. It is that spirit that throughout my 24 years of life had honestly been nothing more to me than a myth... until now.

In electing Barack Obama, this nation has sent a message to the world that we are not ready to forget who we are, why we work, where we came from, and what this country is meant to become in the years ahead.

And it is because we, the people, have put or blood, sweat and tears into electing this man who shares the ideals of the 63 million Americans who have dared to dream that we will one day reach the promising future we can see through the eyes of Barack Obama...

Whose vision is retro, but futuristic.