Yes We Can

Since my arrival in Japan nearly 2 months ago, I've been very, very pleased to be away from the 24-hour news cycle and constant campaign coverage. It's been nice to be able to tune in and out as I please, ignoring politics back home for days at a time.

But today? Today I sat in class, my mind wandering to the election, instead of properly focusing on learning grammar and vocabulary. Today, it was maddening not having that access.

This year marks the first time I wasn't sitting in front of the TV with my family, watching anxiously as ballots were counted and electoral votes allocated, states glowing red or blue on the screen.

I knew I'd be sad to miss Homecoming, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years...but it never crossed my mind that I'd be sad to miss election night.

But despite being thousands of miles removed from the excitement and hope surging back home, hearing the news from other students with Internet access on their cell phones had its own appeal. Today, I got a better sense of how closely the rest of the world has been watching. It's no secret (especially after Obama's appearance in Germany earlier this year) that the rest of the world pays much more attention to American politics than we generally do to theirs. But seeing the overjoyed reactions of students from around the world--Ireland, Japan, Australia, France, Malaysia, etc.--gave the news of Obama's election even more weight than it would have carried if I had been surrounded only by Americans. I can't help but imagine people all over the world breathing a sigh of relief--even celebrating.

Because that's what we're doing here. We may not number in the hundreds of thousands, or have as impressive a venue, or wave miniature American flags--but tonight, we students from across the globe are celebrating, and we'll raise our glasses to hope and change.