Buddha Bless America

While watching Obama’s victory speech, at about noon today, along with 15 of my co-patriots, from a little restaurant here in Mae Sot owned by a Canadian guy named Dave, I cried.

I miss many people, foods, and comforts of home, but only at this moment, did I really, truly miss my nation. I could not be more proud of the United States. Two years ago, if you had asked me whether I thought I'd live to see a Black president, I probably would have said no. And while I know that we have quite a bit of work to do before equality is truly realized in our country, I’m so happy to have been proven wrong.

Being abroad and working for democracy in Burma has only heightened my awareness of how lucky I am to be born an American. My Burmese co-workers may have, if they were lucky, voted once in their lifetimes – during the failed 1990 election. More likely, their lives have been uprooted and their physical safety threatened for trying to bring democracy to Burma. Sometimes, I get the impression that, as I once doubted America’s willingness to see beyond the color of a candidate’s skin, they too doubt if they’ll ever see their dream of a democratic and peaceful Burma realized. If today proved anything to me, though, it proved that hope and hard work are extremely powerful tools.
Buddha Bless America.