Witnessing history

Election day in New York:

By Aditha DISSANAYAKE in New York

It is rarely that one gets to see history being created in front of one’s own eyes. But why should the presidential elections of the USA affect me, a student with an F1 visa who has no right to vote and who would be safely (or otherwise) back in Sri Lanka before the new president’s tenure reaches its second year?

I didn’t know the answer but on the morning of election day in this land of freedom I felt if I ventured outside and walked the streets of New York I would realize why this moment in history is important not only to a minuscule individual like me but to everyone else as well, on planet earth.

Wrapped in layers and layers of warm clothes, feeling like a walking cabbage, I ventured out of doors with my digital camera placed in my cloth holdall usually brimming with pens, books and sheaves of paper.

Here’s why. I knew by the time your eyes fell on an article written by me about the elections in the USA, all the water would have flown under the bridge; you would have already read everything there is to read about the US elections written by pundits and laymen alike from analyzing the policies of Barack Obama to the pedigree of the puppy he promised to let his daughters take with them to the White House, to the suitability of the black and red dress Michelle Obama wore on her first appearance as the first black First Lady of the USA. The truth was, with so many other written versions on this topic to be judged against mine I thought today I will try something different.

I thought I would abandon my pen and notebook and capture this historical moment with my camera. Did I succeed? No. If you see a photo of the elections on this page with my story, be assured it was not taken by me. Even though there are a thousand digital photos inside my camera not a single picture holds the answer.

Yet, try, I did for a good half of the day. This being November the weather turned out to be the same as what you woke up to in the backwoods of Nuwara Eliya during the monsoon season a tad more cold.

The sun refused to come out and seemed to have wrapped himself snugly in an ash coloured blanket. The cold weather, though, did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the voters. On the main street in Flushing at six in the morning the voting line spanned one entire block.

I took a photo. Then I stood around pretending to send a text message on my mobile and observed an elderly black woman wiping her cheeks with a tissue.

“Ma, you OK?” her daughter asked.

“Its amazing” “You mean Barack?” “Just how happy this is.” She sniffed. “I’m just really happy. Fifty years ago this didn’t seem possible. A black man for president. Just amazing.” I took another photo.

Today was different from other election days. Something special was taking place. On the subway many young people wore Obama stickers on their jackets. The New York Post had Obama on the cover. The headline read “Brink of History”.

I stood around three other polling stations in New York - public schools which had been closed for the day. Everywhere else business went on as usual. No one was allowed time off from work to cast their vote. They had to do it either before going to office or in the evening. The polling stations were open till 8 in the night. In spite of the lines being long, no one showed signs of impatience.

They stayed calm as though they had caught Obama’s composure. “Lets get this done and put him in office” I heard one businessman who would have looked good on an advertisement for Nivea (if men used Nivea) tell his equally fair companion. The t-shirt with a picture of Obama and the slogan “Time is now”, printed on it meant there was no secret about who he was referring to.

Obama was important to some because he would be the first black president. For others it was because after eight years of Republican rule, he would usher much needed changes. Yet others hoped he will tame the untamed. “May be it will become cool to be cool like Barack Obama,” wrote the editor of the New York Daily News.”May be studying and getting good grades will be admired. May be the rewards of speaking proper English will be apparent. And maybe boys will start wearing pants properly, as Barack Obama urged them to when he appeared on MTV before the elections.

“Brothers should pull up their pants. You are walking by your mother, your grandmother, your underwear is showing. What’s wrong with that? Come on” he said. “Some people might not want to see your underwear - I am one of them”.

Having passed the stalls selling Obama paraphernalia on Union Square, and an uncountable number of Americans who had their trousers precariously placed way below their hips my fingers itched to pull them up, (Obama’s message had yet to reach them) I finally found myself staring at the fallen leaves seated on a bench in Washington Square. I was still searching for the answers.

What was the link between this moment in history and me? Why was it special for me? Why did I feel absorbed in something which had no remote chance of affecting me or my future? When the cold breeze, busy with her mission of removing the yellowing leaves from the maple trees around me, failed to give me an answer I called it a day and went home.

Several hours later, at around 12.00 in the night, when Barack Obama, selected as the first African -American President in US history addressed the nation from Chicago, I found it. In one single word.

“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer,” he said.

The 47 year old senator from Illinois has shown us if you are brave enough you can reach the sun without burning your wings. He has shown us not to be afraid of failure.

So, what is that one word he has told us all along and which he made clear in his first speech as president? That one word which prompted the whole planet to shout with glee; from Kenya to China, from Buckingham palace to the Vatican?That one word which would answer all my questions?

Think of Shelley’s west wind ...begins with h. Got it yet? Hope.

No wonder I could not take that perfect picture. But I did cast my doubts away and write this article. If you are reading it now Obama’s mantra is already at work. Cast aside your fears. Hope. Its a good thing.