A New Day Dawns in America

Congratulations to Barack Obama on becoming the next President of United States. Not only have we elected the first African-American as President, I really look at this election as one where in spite of the current hardships and uncertainty we face; we, as a society, embraced hope and not fear. Hope for the future and the change we can affect in it.

I’ve gotten a few consoling emails, lamenting the fact that in this historic time in America, I should be halfway across the world. And though I certainly would have enjoyed celebrating with y’all, I wouldn’t change the view I have for anything. At the same time that election results were starting to come in, the Japanese students and teachers at Shichijo Elementary School were welcoming a group of English teachers from all over the world to their school. We had teachers from New Zealand, India, Jamaica, South Africa, Canada, and of course, a few from the U.S.A. And when I and my countrymen introduced ourselves as hailing from America, there were no questions whether we referred to small town, real America or big town, fake America, whether we were from red states or blue states, or if we identified with conservative America or liberal America. We are from America. We are Americans.

- Jenny