Beautiful Day

In 1994 Nadine Gordimer (the Nobel prize winning South African novelist) wrote an essay about South Africa’s first democratic election entitled “A Beautiful Day, Com,” describing the comaraderie that existed in the long lines as black people waited to cast their first votes, and whites like Gordimer worked the polls in support. The “Com” in the title refers not to a type of domain name, but to the term “comrade,” an affectionate term of address among many South Africans. While no one in Philadelphia was calling each other comrade—despite the McCain campaign’s attempts to convince voters that Obama is a socialist—it certainly is a beautiful day, despite a little rain. It is not the first time black Americans could vote for president, but there is a feeling in the streets that we are turning a corner in our country’s racial history. It’s not so much Obama’s race, it seems to me, as the races of the people his campaign has brought together in such a spirit of good will. Some of the elderly people we drove to the polls remarked that they were glad they had lived to see this day (even before a victor is declared). Here are a few pictures from my day in North Philadelphia.

Listening Hearts

Grounded in God


The Great Emergence