farewell at last

Did anybody else listen to George Bush's farewell speech Thursday night? As with most relevant or breaking news, it came to me in bleeps and blips, between deliveries. I had to watch the whole thing on youtube the next day. But my first reaction, coming in on the middle of it without any introduction, was: they're doing a recap of one of his older speeches, right? This is like, Bush's Greatest Hits? A replay of a speech from what, '02? '04? Because the first thing I hear is a reference to Sept. 11. And what a dangerous place the world is. And how terrorists are the most relevant threat we currently face.

No, it's live coverage, or almost. Wow. It's actually his current speech. It's still here and now. (But not for much longer, thank God.) Here's our Homeland Insecurity, still on full display to the world. Though with some astonishing bits of optimism, it seems, attached to it:
“...leading the world toward a new age when freedom belongs to all nations...expand opportunity and hope here at home...America's air and water and lands are measurably cleaner...decisive measures to safeguard our economy...”

Wow. We're still operating in 2-D. In wishful thinking tied to fearful reaction. In Good and Evil. In black and white. When do we go color – in another month? (No, that's digital.) We go full-color –- back, at least, to a broader spectrum of democracy, humanity, possibility -- in only 3 more blessed days. Oh, let it be so.

And may we all remember more of our individual and collective humanity, in the coming days, as we begin to be relieved of 8 years of defense and discouragement. Our ability both to hope and to act. There are those who have used words like oppression, to talk of the policies and actions of these years, but I can't. We haven't ever known oppression, in this country. We've struggled for rights, freedoms - not for our lives, or our souls. Depression, maybe, we've known. What any healthy soul would experience, were its efforts toward life, sharing, peace and justice so continually suppressed. But we can ascend again from this. We are already ascending from this, in so many local and ground-level efforts. In so many places where we share our humanity, such as it is, within the broken and corrupted American dream, such as it is. We are ascending, and can continue, within and together. Yes we can.