Where are We?

President-elect Obama.

Was the election really only 9 days ago?

Doesn't it seem as though the whole world has changed since then?  It's as though we have a whole new outlook, a new range of possibilities that didn't exist before.  You knew the moment was coming, but didn't realize how profound a shift it would be until it really got here.

How could it be?  Many of my friends are strangely quiet, introspective, trying to get used to this new way of thinking and being.  Who knew that one man could enlist the hope and support of millions from all over the world?  Who knew that we could turn the race conversation on its head in one day?

We are used to thinking about crisis in terms of disaster.  

9/11.  Katrina.  Tsunami.  

Is there a word for an equally dynamic and sudden shift that is positive??

The 60's were about rebellion against the establishment.  About tearing down old structures.  

This is a different kind of revolution.  It is positive - constructive.  It's about hope.    Working together. 

Building something new.  

Fueled, in large part, by people too young to remember the sixties.  

And by those old enough to remember segregation.

I've seen huge shifts in personal thinking during mediation sessions and in the collaborative process - that aha! moment when people realize a new way of thinking.  One of those moments when everything changes for you and nothing will ever be the same.

And now it is as though the whole world has had that aha! moment.

Isn't it wonderful!?