The Glass Is Half Full

On Tuesday, American voters had their say. Whatever the outcome, it was going to be a historic election: We would either have our first black president or our first female vice president. The result: Barack Obama - like it or not - will be the 44th president of the United States.


To a lot of people I know, Obama's election was absolutely devastating news. After the verdict had become official Tuesday night, I spent a few minutes on Facebook, where I read all kinds of status updates from friends that said things like "The end is near" and "Our country has been flushed down the toilet."

I think most of them were kidding - maybe. (I have some weird friends, which is a compliment, in my book. "Normal" people are boring.)

To be honest, I felt somewhat disheartened, too, as I watched Obama's victory speech, delivered in front of a rabid crowd of supporters in Chicago.

Since then, I've done a lot of thinking about current events. And I began to realize that I was looking at a glass that was half empty, not half full. I began to think about all of the things that were and are still good about the United States of America. There are quite a few of them.


This is still the greatest country on Earth. This is a free land, where the restored gospel could come forth (and where its headquarters remain). I go back in my mind to the years I spent in Peru, in the third world, and I cannot now take for granted how good we have it here - because we really do have it a lot better than we think.

I think about the recent general conference of the Church that we had in October, both the people who delivered the messages and the messages themselves. And I don't recall hearing anything of panic or despair in their voices. Rather, I heard a lot of sound, wise counsel and a lot of hope, from people who are in control in the face of the storms of life and are looking optimistically to the present and to the future.

I also think about all of the people who rallied to help get Proposition 8 passed in California - something good that happened Tuesday - and I think, There are still good people in this country. There are still people who care about what I care about and are willing to take a stand on it.

I still don't like Barack Obama. I have questions about his ability to lead. I don't know where he's going to take this country in the next four years. It's also going to take a while for me to get used to saying "President Obama." (It just doesn't roll off the tongue like "President Lincoln" or "President Roosevelt.")

But, come January 20, I'm still going to give him a chance. I can disagree with him on issues and still support him as president. If Obama fails as president, then we, as Americans, will all fail. I'll take being led by Barack Obama any day over being led by Fidel Castro, what's-his-bucket in North Korea, or any other regime across the globe - even Canada (which, by the way, still waits for Alec Baldwin). And I don't wanna be a Canadian idiot. (Clayton knows what I mean.)

I just hope that, come January 20, Obama will be the kind of person his supporters believe they elected November 4.