get ready to hold your breath

[vanitashaze]

Ladies and gentlemen -

As of three minutes ago, the polls in Virginia just closed.

Comments

[magelight.livejournal.com]

I'm quietly rooting for Obama.

[vanitashaze.livejournal.com]

Just quietly?

[magelight.livejournal.com]

Well, if I do it loudly I'll wake my flatmate up and then he might kill me.

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

I was moved to tears by a political speech for the first time. Thank you for your efforts in Virginia!

[sinkwriter.livejournal.com]

Seriously. Crying several times. What an amazing night. And we were alive to see it happen. Fantastic.

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

That was just what I was thinking at one point - "I'm alive to see this."

[sinkwriter.livejournal.com]

My brother-in-law wrote me a moving email tonight, talking of my 5-year-old nephew and how he wanted to know who was going to win (before he went to bed, which of course, was considerably earlier than the election results). He said he was so humbled to think that his kids will never know this country to be without a black President.

How magical is that?

I'm so wired, I may not be able to sleep for a while. Wow. :)

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

He said he was so humbled to think that his kids will never know this country to be without a black President.

YES.

[vanitashaze.livejournal.com]

I know, oh my god, I know. I ended up at the pub with what seemed like half the Democratic party of Virginia, everyone screaming and shocked and silent and drunk; it was just the knowing, that everything we had hoped for had come to pass, and we had no idea how this had happened, it was like it wasn't real, it couldn't be. But it was. And - that moment - it didn't matter, none of it did, whether you helped for an hour or a week or a month, because you were one of us, you had made this happen. You: the Brits who came to another continent to help, knowing they couldn't vote; the woman cried in the arms of a man she didn't even know; the substitute teacher who said "for the first time in my life, I am proud to be an American," who told me, "we have redeemed ourselves"; the old black man in the leather jacket, hair white and wild as he went around the room hugging everyone he could find, saying "thank you", "thank you", over and over again. Everyone I've talked to was always so shocked when I tell them that I volunteer even though I can't vote - I'm not old enough - but I can't figure out the reason for their surprise, because I helped these people. For a moment I was these people. For that moment, that hour, we were all the same, because we were all made of hope and light, we were beautiful. And I smell like an ashtray and will fall asleep in class and know that this moment, this feeling, it won't last, but it's enough, it's worth it, because Barack Obama is going to be the 44th president of the United States of America, and I cried a little too.

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

I'm tearing up a little, reading your comment. You should well be proud.

[sinkwriter.livejournal.com]

You may not have been old enough to vote, but you were part of the process. You made a difference. That's as good as voting, in my book. You stepped up and got involved, and that's magnificent.

Great work, to all of you! :D