Finding Faith
'Congratulations, Mister President.' I don't know quite who said it first. But it took a minute to register who exactly it was that they were talking to. My mind, usually so astute at grasping the minutiae of a situation, had ceased its functions and I could not comprehend that that elusive title was mine.
I was following in a long line of monumental figures. These were men who had carved history with their wills. These were men who had crafted a great nation with the force of their characters. And now I was being called to join that elite.
Never had I considered that irregular office might someday be mine. It was beyond the reach of dreams. I was never supposed to win, at least in my own mind. I was a candidate in a race with nothing to lose. I merely wanted to instigate discussion in the upper circles of great men.
And now I was being called to rise above the circles of great men to become their head. I was being summoned to take the proffered laurels and guide the discussions that I had merely intended to begin, never dreaming that I would have an active role within these circles.
I suppose that I answered them eventually, still astounded that the impossible had become possible in some sudden momentous shift. The world had altered itself beneath me in the instant when my eyes were closed and I was being caught unaware. The world had been as I had always known it. And suddenly, in no more than the blink of an eye, nothing was as it had been.
How long does it take to change the world? How much sweat and toil goes into it? To whom do we owe the debt when our dreams float from the intangible to within our grasp?
I suppose that I looked dazed, stunned even. 'Congratulations, Mister President.' The words echoed around the cavernous void that my mind had vacated, resonating in the hollow space. And yet, they did not fade. They imprinted themselves on my all-too-treacherous memory, saving themselves for a time when I could fully comprehend the immensity of those words.
Good men are all that stand between us and the devil. The speaker slips my mind. It was Kennedy perhaps. Will I be one of those good men? With the weight of the world on my shoulders will I be able to bear the burden and stand between all that is evil?
Who am I to presume to play God? To take that step beyond my own all too fragile mortality and become someone that children generations from now will remember and learn of. Will I be a Polk, all but forgotten but in volumes collecting dust? Will I be a Lincoln, a martyr for a cause? Will I be a Roosevelt, a firm hand guiding the country through its darkest hours?
My hand was shaken firmly. My shoulder was clapped resoundingly. I was pulled into a hesitant embrace. I was kissed on the cheek lightly. And all the while those words were repeated in a thousand different voices, in a million different intonations, all colliding and combining in my mind. 'Congratulations, Mister President.'
Faces swim before me. Some I connect with names, with actions that have brought me here. Some I have never seen. These people with whom I have never spoken have raised me from my position to one of power. These people, whose names I will never know, are brimming over with joy. And for a moment, I am one of those people. I too feel the elation.
And then it passes and I am left astounded that these people, these widely varied and diverse people, have pulled one from their midst to guide them. And I am privileged to be that person. The enormity of it all settles down on me again and I cannot fathom what it is that these people see in a stranger.
That is what I am to this nation. I am a stranger that they have seen fit to place their implicit trust in. I am one man who has been culled from the masses as their highest representative. I have become America and all Americans though I do not know them and cannot understand them.
Past joy, not yet ready for elation, bogged down in the quagmire of happiness, I am humbled by the weight of the decisions that millions of my fellow citizens have made this day. They have chosen between two strangers and have picked who they believe is the lesser of two evils to stand between themselves and the greater evils. They have chosen a mere mortal to guide our nation to the greater good.
I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office that has been entrusted to me. I will, to the best of my ability, preserve the integrity of this nation. I will protect all those in need of protection. I will defend my nation's borders and its citizens. And I will uphold the ideals that have raised me here. I am but a servant of the people. I am a servant of the people that have suddenly become mine to lead.
'Congratulations, Mister President.' I still cannot bring myself to respond to that title. I am afraid that if I do, this night will vanish in a cloud of smoke and I will wake from this magnificent dream that is not a dream.
'Congratulations, Mister President.' I don't know quite who said it first. But it took a minute to register who exactly it was that they were talking to. My mind, usually so astute at grasping the minutiae of a situation, had ceased its functions and I could not comprehend that that elusive title was mine.
I was following in a long line of monumental figures. These were men who had carved history with their wills. These were men who had crafted a great nation with the force of their characters. And now I was being called to join that elite.
Never had I considered that irregular office might someday be mine. It was beyond the reach of dreams. I was never supposed to win, at least in my own mind. I was a candidate in a race with nothing to lose. I merely wanted to instigate discussion in the upper circles of great men.
And now I was being called to rise above the circles of great men to become their head. I was being summoned to take the proffered laurels and guide the discussions that I had merely intended to begin, never dreaming that I would have an active role within these circles.
I suppose that I answered them eventually, still astounded that the impossible had become possible in some sudden momentous shift. The world had altered itself beneath me in the instant when my eyes were closed and I was being caught unaware. The world had been as I had always known it. And suddenly, in no more than the blink of an eye, nothing was as it had been.
How long does it take to change the world? How much sweat and toil goes into it? To whom do we owe the debt when our dreams float from the intangible to within our grasp?
I suppose that I looked dazed, stunned even. 'Congratulations, Mister President.' The words echoed around the cavernous void that my mind had vacated, resonating in the hollow space. And yet, they did not fade. They imprinted themselves on my all-too-treacherous memory, saving themselves for a time when I could fully comprehend the immensity of those words.
Good men are all that stand between us and the devil. The speaker slips my mind. It was Kennedy perhaps. Will I be one of those good men? With the weight of the world on my shoulders will I be able to bear the burden and stand between all that is evil?
Who am I to presume to play God? To take that step beyond my own all too fragile mortality and become someone that children generations from now will remember and learn of. Will I be a Polk, all but forgotten but in volumes collecting dust? Will I be a Lincoln, a martyr for a cause? Will I be a Roosevelt, a firm hand guiding the country through its darkest hours?
My hand was shaken firmly. My shoulder was clapped resoundingly. I was pulled into a hesitant embrace. I was kissed on the cheek lightly. And all the while those words were repeated in a thousand different voices, in a million different intonations, all colliding and combining in my mind. 'Congratulations, Mister President.'
Faces swim before me. Some I connect with names, with actions that have brought me here. Some I have never seen. These people with whom I have never spoken have raised me from my position to one of power. These people, whose names I will never know, are brimming over with joy. And for a moment, I am one of those people. I too feel the elation.
And then it passes and I am left astounded that these people, these widely varied and diverse people, have pulled one from their midst to guide them. And I am privileged to be that person. The enormity of it all settles down on me again and I cannot fathom what it is that these people see in a stranger.
That is what I am to this nation. I am a stranger that they have seen fit to place their implicit trust in. I am one man who has been culled from the masses as their highest representative. I have become America and all Americans though I do not know them and cannot understand them.
Past joy, not yet ready for elation, bogged down in the quagmire of happiness, I am humbled by the weight of the decisions that millions of my fellow citizens have made this day. They have chosen between two strangers and have picked who they believe is the lesser of two evils to stand between themselves and the greater evils. They have chosen a mere mortal to guide our nation to the greater good.
I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office that has been entrusted to me. I will, to the best of my ability, preserve the integrity of this nation. I will protect all those in need of protection. I will defend my nation's borders and its citizens. And I will uphold the ideals that have raised me here. I am but a servant of the people. I am a servant of the people that have suddenly become mine to lead.
'Congratulations, Mister President.' I still cannot bring myself to respond to that title. I am afraid that if I do, this night will vanish in a cloud of smoke and I will wake from this magnificent dream that is not a dream.