let me tell you something of what it's like to walk around downtown manhattan these last two days
people are walking with their heads hung low
people are sad
people are angry
my local fedex babe said she had a slew of customers break out into tears
in the gym that i go to
the jewish community center gym where one would suppose
some folks might like bush cause he's supposed to be good for israel
everyone especially the israeli receptionist looked like they were two steps from calling the suicide hot-line
i said to some of the crowd
i can't remember a time in my lifetime that everyone was so sad about an election result
and a woman standing next to me who is about 80 years old said
"honey i can't remember a time in my lifetime!"

i've been feeling bitchy to the extreme as if a massive dose of PMS were settling into my bones
and today
the dark gloomy skies and rain isn't helping very much

a good pal of mine said, this election reminded her that to be a new yorker
one often gets to feeling like the whole country can see and hear and feel the information you are so clearly getting
new yorkers are, after all, the most savy of all are they not?
and then when you find out that half the country cares more about Christian values then they do about the economy, about terror about freedom
its just such a scary eye opener

So today I've been thinking about what good might come out of all of this
because its not healthy or helpful to just roll in the gloom of it all

and what i've decided is the good that has come out of the bush regime so far
is getting so many young folks so many people who normally don't vote
to get out there and vote

and the good that has come and that will come is
getting so many people who normally dont get involved
who just sit in their chair in front of the boob tube
and watch the world go by
to stand up
to walk out of their house
and to hold signs
to make calls
to speak out

i used to be one of those people
i used to make fun of people who talked about politics
i said
it was rude to talk about money, religion and politics
in social situations

i turned 18 and did not vote
and did not vote until i was in my early 20's
i can even remember who it was that prompted me to vote in the first place
was it reagan or bush senior that i dragged myself to the polls
to vote AGAINST
dont recall

it wasn't until i watched the towers fall
until i went down to ground zero to aid the broken souls
that i began to read the sunday new york times
it wasn't until the suicide bombers blew away women, children and civilians
in israel that i began to feel the growing outrage
the growing fury prompting me to be involved

it wasn't until this president
that i began to understand something of what it might have felt like
to be an open minded person imprisoned inside the conservative era of the 1950's

and what came after the 50's?
the 1960's of course, a time of ovelwhelming outrage
and rebellion

so here i am today
like so many of you
i am now AWAKE
i am now AWARE
i am now ALERT

and i will i must somehow find a way to stay that way
and to help others do the same

because to go to sleep
to just join the sheep
mindlessly going about their lives not asking too many tough questions
is something like not being alive
and i do wish to be alive
don't you

lets all join together
and be very much alive