This day we are all Americans, the Spirit of Americans that humans in the world long for -- freedom, opportunity, connection, possibility, community, peace, hope, transformation, change, dreaming, loving...
I keep hearing Lincoln, "The better angels of human nature has prevailed." I knew I had heard this phrase, and in fact included it in my Berlin Wall book, but didn't remember all of it. So I just looked on the web and was reminded that the phrase came in the last paragraph of Lincoln's inaugural speech:
"We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
We had friends from England, Germany and the USA at our house watching the returns last night, and all were celebrating.
This is truly an international victory. I've received at least 30 congratulatory emails this morning from friends in other countries. As Buckminster Fuller said, "We are all passengers on Spaceship Earth."
From my perspective, this is more a victory for human consciousness than policy. And, "Yes we can!"