*tonight: nov. 04, 2008*

Tonight I sat awaiting results from the most important election of our time. And once the news was posted and our new president took the stage to speak to our country, it brought tears to my eyes. Tonight marked a new era, a moment in which we took control of what we have lost for so many years. Tonight marked a day in our history that will be taught in schools, that will be taught as the day that our nation changed for the better, that it took a turn in which we are in control once again of our own nation and which the future will bring bright things.

And watching our new president speak, something he said hit me really strongly. He said, "I will always be honest with on what is going on," and for the first time in so many years of hearing politicians say that, I honestly believe that with President Obama, he is sincere in saying that and that he will hold true to that and to all else he is so bravely promising. As a young adult, I have to say that I have a very different set of values than other generations seem to have, and I have grown up with a different set of priorities for myself and for our country. And it's in those priorities that I find comfort in looking to Obama as our leader, it's in those values that I know in my heart he will uphold and believe in. I know in my heart he will believe in me and my generation, that he will acknowledge our strengths and use them to the best of our advantage. I truly believe that he is the change that we need, the motivation to succeed and the leader to bring about a new America, a leader to bring about a new world.

I know that many people still object to this man, to the new president of the United States, but let me say this. He, above all people, believes in us, believes in what my generation can do and what we have the potential to change. If nothing else, believe in us. Believe in the power we have, in the thousands of minds that we can put to use, in the millions of young adults that believe in a different way of life. Believe in us. Believe in our strength and believe that we have the power once again to change the world.

Tonight, tears came to my eyes as I watched our new president speak. And those tears were not from nervousness or anxiety, they weren't from sadness or disappointment. They were from joy in the purest form, and from hope. They were for the hope of new America, the hope of a man that stands for something different, and the hope that we can really change the world.