There is a nice park, not far from where I live. Around the park is a path that is 1.1 miles long. I walk there two or three times per week, depending on weather. I see a lot of the same people. We smile and nod and maybe say "morning" to each other. One of the regulars is this elderly gentleman. He walks stooped forward and to the right, but he's there every day, walking as fast as he can.
Today, as I'm hauling my 42 year old bones around the park, I'm wearing my "got hope?" t-shirt. The elderly gentleman says something to me. I remove my iPod headphones (Mick was wailing about being unable to get any satisfaction despite trying and trying and trying) and say "Pardon?"
He says "I got hope." I smiled and said "Yeah?"
"Yeah, I got hope and I'm gonna vote for that guy. He's gonna change this country."
I told him that I agreed. Then he says "So many people around here are Republicans, you know? Those Newport Beach people, they talk about he's gonna raise taxes. But I don't know anyone that makes more than $250,000. Do you?" Our neck of the woods is solidly middle-class. We talked for a bit more, then he says "You gotta have hope. I'm 81 and I should be in a wheelchair, but I'm here, everyday, walking."
We parted ways and I finished my lap around the park with an extra spring in my step. Nothing better for my mental health to cancel out the doomsayers than an 81 year Orange County, California resident voting for Obama because he knows Obama can change this country.
I hope that I can still haul ass around the park when I'm 81.
Central Park: