The aftermath of the US Presidential Election

Yesterday was one of those interesting days. The aftermath of the United States presidential election. The day many people exposed their true feelings about President Obama being reelected to power. And the most interesting facet of his reelection was the level of emotion it evoked from people. The polarity it exposed that exists within our psyche.

There were a lot of people who were gravely disappointed that he was reelected. Angry. Frustrated. Furious.  Spewing hatred and contempt for his reelection. There were others who were euphoric. Embracing, Filled with hope. Over the moon that this man went up against the 1% who hold the key to the financial fortune of this world and won. It’s like the David and Goliath story all over again. The biblical battle between the small man and the giant that seems to continue even in our modern age of excess and technology.

I observed that people automatically believe that because of where you are from or what you look like, you are meant to blindly follow the person that is from a similar background to yours and if you don’t that makes you a traitor or backstabber. I also observed that people that come from different backgrounds did not want President Obama to win because they felt he was their enemy.

When I told someone that I had been on the fence with both candidates and I would have found it more difficult to vote this year than years before if I was American, they were outraged. But I felt the race was a tight race. A race that represented different and varying strengths of each candidate. I felt Romney was the better candidate for quickly getting the US back on its feet fiscally because of the contacts he had in the top 1%. Those who were willing to give him whatever he needed to get them back into their position of power. And by doing so allowing the US economy to grow.

 I also thought President Obama has the charisma and empathy necessary to soothe global ills that are occurring outside the US. I felt he gives people hope, a feeling of comfort and most of all a feeling of trust. I felt if there was a candidate who combined the traits of both these men; the choice would have been that much easier.

But what I learned on the day after the election when I listened to the President of the United States' acceptance speech is that more than anything he answers the global call for inclusiveness.  For hope. For faith. For giving the small man and woman, who incidentally represent the majority of the world, the confidence they can make it in this world. The world is not looking for division. It is looking for inclusion. The world has changed so much with the advent of social media that no place in the world is isolated from the other. We all know with the touch of a button on our computers what is happening anywhere in the world. What happens in the United States affects what happens in Africa. What happens in China affects what happens in Russia. What happens in Germany affects what happens in France. What happens in Bermuda affects what happens in Brussels. You get the point.

We have become a far more interconnected world physically in the last 2 years just with Facebook exploding from 500 million users to 1 billion users, than we could ever have done before. Technology is exposing our vulnerabilities because it is allowing us access to worldwide events before we can even blink sometimes. So the age old politics of rhetoric and isolation have become as obsolete as the rotary dial telephone.

What the world is looking for is someone who can lead them through this worldwide web of information with the greatest feeling of hope. With the feeling that though we may not be in the top 1% of the financial giants, we are in the vast majority of people who fall outside of that 1% and we want a say too. To believe we have the right to our say. People want to know they have for a fighting chance to make it even if they are not wealthy. That they have the right to a good education. Good healthcare.

The worldwide web is the physical representation of the spiritual worldwide web we have always shared. The fact that we are all interconnected. Part of a global consciousness showing us that no matter where we come from or what we look like, we are one and we want to be treated as such.

And out of the two candidates President Obama, to me now, is the best man for the job. He is the one who gives people hope that no matter where they come from, no matter what they look like, no matter what their beliefs are, no matter what their sexuality is, no matter what goes on behind their closed doors, they matter. We matter and that is what we are all striving for – to believe we matter.