PhillySpeak.com

I have been thinking of this song since Obama was officially nominated by the Democratic party to be president.

Last night, as I watched the election returns come in, I again thought of this song.

I also thought of friends past and present. I remembered Gus, who came to my apartment on 47th and Chester Ave. He had just come from some meeting about trying to elect Eugene McCarthy. Gus was selling McCarthy cookbooks for $3 to help raise funds

I really was not that big a fan of McCarthy. I did not think he could win. I bought the cookbook. Pack rat that I am, I still have the cookbook. I no longer have my friend Gus.

Too many friends on that road. Mimi, John, Bill, Terry, David, Tom- too many to name. Their names are not important. Their names are not my point.

My point is all of those spirits came together again to sing in my head and to celebrate once more for what it is we are still about on this late evening of November 4th 2008.

There are others, younger, who hear the siren spirit of the song we heard- Ali, Mike, Joseph, Rachel- again the names don’t matter, too many of them. It is the spirit in which we are one and ageless.

I am filled with these wonderful spirits old and new.

Forty years have passed without this particular anthem being sung with authority, belief and hope.

So, many of you will not have a clue about what I just wrote. It’s okay. This is for the old voices in my head and spirits in my spirit who have brought forth the future.

Here is a song for you just for you