What a gift from God it was to experience the evening of November 4, 2008 in America. My mind is still trying to wrap itself around the magnitude of what just happened. I will be able to tell this story a thousand times over and I am certain that it will never get old.
Ineffability is defined as: To say that something is "ineffable" means that it cannot or should not, for overwhelming reasons, be expressed in spoken words (as with the concept of true love). It is generally used to describe a feeling, concept or aspect of existence that is too great to be adequately described in words, or that inherently (due to its nature) cannot be conveyed in dualistic symbolic human language, but can only be known internally by individuals.
In Zen it is often said that (by analogy) the finger can point to the moon but is not the moon; likewise words and actions can point towards what is ineffable but cannot make another know it.
When I think of what happened yesterday, all I can do is cry. I thank God for giving me life and for allowing me to experience this moment in its fullness.
To anyone who has been made to feel an outsider, made to feel less than a full citizen, has been disrespected or accused of being guilty until proven innocent, who was told they could never succeed...today is YOUR day! Own it like it's always been yours. This is what the "other side of the mountain top" feels like. The possibilities are endless and every dream is a question of "when", and never "if".
But lest we forget those who've gone before us....
Gabriel Posser
Nat Turner
Harriet Tubman
Frederick Douglas
Marcus Garvey
The Scottsboro Nine
Medgar Evers
Emmitt Till
Ronald Madison (mentally handicapped man killed by N.O Police during Hurricane Katrina)
Bernie Mac
Jackie Robinson
Rosa Parks
Charles Steele
Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins
The Great Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.
And countless, and I do mean countless others...
With gratitude and humility...keep your torch lit
