Today we watched with trepidation, then excitement, and then unabashed emotion as Barack Obama became the new President-Elect of the United States of America. One Chinese news station gave the news as they were discussing economic and business news. A Venezuelan friend, just off the plane from Amsterdam, called to congratulate me - as if I had anything to do with it beyond voting! A Swede I bumped into at the grocery hadn't heard, and upon learning spontaneously erupted in "I'm so happy!!" while another stranger, a Canadian, chimed in "Me, too!" I opted out of hiking today and provided CNN & BBC news updates via SMS for our group hiking in the hills of Beijing.
(On Phoenix/Hong Kong news, commentator on the right and on the left, the crowd at Grant Park, Chicago, waiting for Obama to appear for victory speech.)It feels like emotions towards America have changed for the better in a single day. And not just from my small experience. Around the world, from my nephew's experience in Sierre Leone (see http://www.freetowncalling.blogspot.com/), to our Swedish friends in Stockholm staying up all night to watch CNN, to simple Chinese reactions (among some, "What? A black man? Unbelievable." and "I don't pay attention to (US elections)" to "China will always be America's friend"), there is hope for the future.
What a great moment in history. Yes, we - the world - can.
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