Every Silver Lining Has A Cloud

I am American but at the moment I live in London. When I walked into work this morning, my colleagues were all gathered around a computer. Upon seeing me, they said, ‘Hey, we were celebrating for you!’

(I had just gotten off the bus where I was napping and so it didn’t immediately register that they were talking about the results of the US presidential election and because I am a narcissist I thought they were just finally throwing me the party I deserve.)

Coincidentally, when George W. Bush was elected into his second term eight years ago, I was also living in the UK. (In Scotland. Don’t mix up the Scots and the English. They’re totally not the same even though they’re all white people with funny accents.) I don’t remember how my fellow students reacted upon seeing me immediately after he was elected, but I do know that it was probably not celebratory.

I guess now I am more aware of things like this, that the whole world is watching America, and that America is only watching itself.

That’s all, really. I was happy four years ago when Obama won. I am happy today now that he has won again. I don’t think that the country will be ‘fixed’ now that he has secured office for another four years. I am happy that the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) will not be shot down and that in the conceivable future all people who want health insurance will be able to have health insurance. I don’t think that that’s going to fix the healthcare system. I am happy that in the conceivable future all adults who want to be married will be able to marry. I don’t think that’s going to change the attitudes of people who are raised in a society that outcasts those who are different.

However, this is certainly encouraging and I think that things are moving in the right direction. I just think that sometimes when you make a little bit of progress, it only makes you realize how much further you have to go.