John Mayer...Hope is not a buzz word
Regardless of your political persuasion, I thought this was a really thoughtful and profound view of why John Mayer is voting for Obama:
"Hope" Is Not a Buzz Word
Written by John Mayer
I was 23 years old when the nation was attacked on September 11, 2001. I can remember hearing pundits say "this changes everything" and "things will never be the same." Obviously it was a tragic and traumatic event, but that sentiment has carried on through the better part of my twenties. If you were 43 years old on that day, I would imagine it was a difficult concept to get your head around as well, but if you were a young adult just entering his or her individual life, there was an added twist; how can you process the idea of everything changing and things never being the same when you have no point of reference for what "everything" and "the same" is? I was just beginning to put my hands on the world around me, to interact and engage with it, and to actualize the dream of being an adult in a free society. To wait in line for 23 years only to have the "sorry, future canceled" sign flipped in my face was depressing, to say the least.
The social and political narrative of the last eight years, if you're a young adult, has been "you are the first generation of the second half of the rest of human existence." That's a huge psychological undertaking, and I believe it's one that will someday be diagnosed on a massive scale as having led to a kind of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. (Something has to explain away our premature obsession with 1980s nostalgia.) My generation has come to know itself as the generation that should have seen the good days, my, were they spectacular, now take off your shoes and place them on the belt.
What Barack Obama says to me is these days are good for something. Just when I'd thought my only role as an adult was to help shoulder the nation through its darkest days (known to us as "the rest of them"), Obama gives me the feeling that I could be alive to witness one of the most brilliant upturns in a country's history. Imagine that -- a young adult in this day and age being given something to someday brag to his children about having being alive to witness. What a concept.
That's why hope is a worthwhile commodity. To those who question whether hope is a tangible product worth building a campaign around, I'd say take a look at despair and how powerful that has been in reshaping how people think and live. I believe the definition of the "hope" that Barack Obama enthuses operates on the unspoken thesis that there has to be a polar opposite to the despair of 9/11. Because if we accept that there's not, the will to live becomes forever altered. To adults who will vote for him, Barack Obama represents a return to prosperity. To the youth, he represents an introduction to it.
From Kidd
I'm older than John, obviously, so this is a perspective I've never considered. That anyone from teenagers up to those in their early 20's were maybe more profoundly shaped by 9/11 than the rest of us.
I do agree with his sentiment on hope. As a person going through some stuff of his own, I know how critical it is be optimistic about the future. Whether or not you think Obama can accomplish that is up to each individual voter and I think if the person that gives you that hope is John McCain, then you should vote for him.
Regardless, my personal opinion is that we have begun to value fear over hope and I wouldn't mind seeing that trend reversed.
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7 Comments
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Comment by Veronica Mendes on February 16, 2009 at 2:05pm - ok... first of all... I LOVEEEEE John Mayer.. always have. He my favorite.. and after reading this i love him more. "hope" how can you live without it??? We have to be hopefull...
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Comment by Jordysandoz on December 12, 2008 at 2:46pm -
This is the best description of what my generation feels about 9/11. When it happend I was 19 and 7 months pregnant. I didn't know how to react to something this big. I was just beginning my life and here we are expected to change the world.
I agree that our country has become something that is formed around fear. If we continue to live in fear aren't we letting ourselves down for all the good. Hope is the new beginning and I am excited to experience that.
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Comment by Vanessa on December 3, 2008 at 6:38pm - Very well said....both by you and John Mayer....Thank you!!!!
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Comment by Jessica Marie Campana on November 23, 2008 at 12:53pm - When will sexy Jack be getting a blog? I wanted to hear his take on the Robert Pattinson scandal! LOL ILOVE YA"LL SHOW---
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Comment by APoetess on November 8, 2008 at 7:34pm -
Very well-stated... :-)
ShopGirl64
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Comment by The Duchess of Delicious on November 5, 2008 at 2:02pm - Wow, this was extremely moving, I am actually sitting at my desk crying right now. I never thought of it like that, but reading this I realized that I agree with him. I was a sophmore in high school when 9/11 happened. After that it just seemed like we kind of lost hope, lost sight of what America is really about. It has been a sad few years. Obama represents renewed hope for me, he makes me feel like we can do something huge and historic, that we can take the country into our hands and be responsible for where our future is headed.
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Comment by Riki Wells on November 5, 2008 at 9:08am -
Now I remember why I like John Mayer - he has such an eloquent way of saying that which some of us feel deep in our hearts and souls.
No matter who we voted for, the ability to change this country is up to all of us, not just the president-elect. And it's up to us to lift ourselves out of despair and begin to build up the place that we all love and call home.
On a side note: I keep you in my thoughts and prayers, Kidd, because I have experience with the roller-coaster ride that you're on. And I'm sure that with great friends like Al and Kelly, who have also been through this, you'll be okay. Not to downplay all the other friends that are around you on a daily basis - everyone helps just by being there. : ) Please keep up the good work, I love your show though I can't listen all the time. God Bless!
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