Two years ago, I was in my last year in law school. My brother was in Iraq. And I'd really thought we might have a chance of getting him home if Kerry were elected. (Not that I much liked Kerry; I much favored John Edwards, and still do.) When the election returns came back, I -- like most of my classmates -- was devastated. The next day the school was a mausoleum, with people speaking in hushed tones and occasional bursts of anger.
Most of my conservative friends were diplomatic, and if they were elated, they kept it to themselves. (There's a reason why they're my friends, even though we have fundamental belief differences.) One of my acquaintances, though -- a woman I encouraged to put a Bush sticker on her car, if that was how she felt, though she'd mocked my Kerry/Edwards sticker -- was not diplomatic. She was ecstatic, and when she saw me, she made a nasty comment. I can't remember what it was (I blogged it, but it was on the old, dead blog), but it was only slightly more articulate than "Nah, nah: we showed you." I told her it wasn't polite to gloat, and she was mad at me for months afterwards.
If I were a better person, I would hope that she doesn't feel half as bad as I did in 2004. But I'm not that person. Today, two years later, with my brother home after he was almost killed three times, with permanent hearing loss and PTSD, I hope she feels a hundred times worse than I did.
Recent Comments