Beautiful things about today

I wasn't planning on posting anything else today, but I really felt moved to write this after reading some negative comments about the election...

As Americans, we find ourselves today at the culmination of a closely-watched, long-stretching campaign season. After months of listening, it is our turn to speak.

We have been red or blue or green or other. We have been right or left or center or undecided. We have been for or against, yes or no, supporting or opposing. Today we are still all of those things - and we are more. Today we are voters. We are deciders. And, let's not forget, we are Americans.

Campaigning, with its name calling and mud slinging, is over. Results, despite what some may say, have not come in yet. What we voters have is today, and today - whatever your disappointments may be in candidates, campaigns or country - we have many things to celebrate.

Today we share in this flawed-yet-beautiful thing called democracy. We have freedom to fill out our ballots, to make our selections. You may not like your options, but you have a choice. Record numbers have lined up at the polls and are willing to wait to take part. In those lines, many will vote for the first time. The past years have seen many people move from apathy to activism. And today we write history. Today's candidates show us that the highest office in the land is, in fact, open to men and women of every color. Today we have anticipation, waiting to see what the future holds.

Tomorrow will be different. How different it is is up to us. Tomorrow we will not be voters, but we will still be deciders. We will still be Americans.

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Photos by me.