Is Obama the Balm For Our Wounds?

What an incredible day yesterday. A day of pomp and circumstance; a day of historic proportion; and rather than a speech with platitudes and soaring rhetoric, a speech with the stark reality of what lies ahead and hope that we will unite as a country and conquer our challenges. I truly believe that if this was ever possible in our history it is possible now.

And yet what does that mean on the ground, for me?

I continue to hear stories and see in my day to day work life, how things continue to deteriorate. I know that without some shift, I will not make it to the promised recovery employed where I am. I wonder if this is how MLK felt when he talked of not making it to the promise land. I know the comparison is weak, but it comes to mind because of this week’s events and the proximity to the MLK holiday/celebration.

Increasingly each day, I must summon more energy to walk out the door and head to work and increasingly I want to stay home in bed. Yes, I know; signs of depression. And I suppose around the edges it may be. But honestly it is mostly frustration for me.

I believe I am talented at what I do. I love architecture, and always have since I was a child. I have always found enough joy to bridge what ever gap in compensation and prestige existed in my career; until now.

Until now when I should be entering the zenith of my work; until now when I am watching and rooting for others as they excel, and until now when my very job is in jeopardy.

I feel like a malcontent. I feel disloyal to those I know who are enjoying success. I fear that people won’t want to share their own successes and joys with me for fear it will “push me over the edge;” instead of just uplifting me some as it really does to hear of someone else’s success.

And so is Obama the cure? Well in some ways, yes. The new administration brings with it hopes and dreams. Will it be instantaneous? No. It simply can’t be and I pray that America can grasp that.

I don’t honestly know how Barrack Obama shoulders the hopes and dreams of all the people who have cast theirs upon him. But I am certainly thrilled that he is willing to try.