CNN iReport

This week in the United States we elected our forty-fourth president, President-elect Barack Obama, and the world celebrated.  People of African decent cried tears of joy, embracing each other, wiping the disbelief and emotion of three hundred and forty years of American history from their eyes. They were not alone. Throughout the world there were celebrations with people crying, laughing, dancing and savoring that long forgotten essential nutrient of the human heart, hope. These celebrants belonged to all races, lived in all continents and practiced all faiths.

I believe that a greater truth is distinguished from a lesser truth by its inclusion and expansion of that same lesser truth, and this principle seems evident in this election. Obama and his supporters want the same things the Republican party espouses: safety, a strong competitive economy, job security, freedom, health care access and a future for their children in a peaceful, prosperous world. The difference being the philosophy and methods that Obama proposes to reach these goals. In essence and in the simplest of terms, the world is celebrating inclusion as it celebrates Obama’s victory. They can once again see themselves and their own hope in America’s promise.

As time marches forward and with it, technology, information and media, the world is beginning to wake from its former definitions of isolated countries, cultures and politics. The interconnected nature of the planet is slowly moving to the foreground and becoming apparent for the first time in human history in concrete ways that everyone can understand. Our current financial meltdown is just one undeniable example and it will require the cooperation of Asia, Europe, America and the world to solve it. Our mutual need to alter global warming and to develop green technology will likewise require coordinated effort. The ending of the era of terrorism will only come to a close through dialogue as much as by military might and also will require the principles of inclusion and equality.

Passion is often mistaken for truth, as is absolute resolution for wisdom but both of these errors give way to change for the same reason: people change when their model of reality no longer fits the world in which they live. This has been the case in the US under eight years of Bush doctrine that attempted to mold the world into its likeness using a constricted timeworn model. President Bush and the agenda of the American right wing approached terrorism as if we were fighting World War II a second time and sought to carve out America’s standing in the world with the same ideology. The problem being the rest of the world has moved on.

Ideologies are like boats. They’re wonderful tools to help us navigate to our destination but only a fool would mistake them for the destination itself. The world has grown out of the once airtight definitions of socialism, capitalism, liberal, conservative, blah, blah, blah, blah. The world and particularly America, because of its position in the world, needs leaders who can utilize ideologies and political models with a new flexibility to reach concrete results. We need to approach our problems with every weapon in the arsenal. Any leader, political party, nation, that does otherwise will be left behind as our children grow older and search for practical solutions to the problems they’ve inherited. For one thing is certain: the younger generation will choose their own peace and prosperity over our tired old definitions, models and bias’, as well they should.

The reaction of the world to the election of Barack Obama is telling the US something about our past mistakes and our future hopes. The world does see us as a leader, and most of it welcomes us to that position, but it is equality, peace and innovation they expect from us. They look towards us to conquer the age-old tyrannies of divisiveness and inequality. In short, to accomplish what their nations have not accomplished. Every time we drop a bomb in Iraq we squelch one enemy and make one hundred more. Not just among the family and friends of those whom we killed but in the broken hearts of those we disappointed. In the joy of the world’s celebration we Americans have a chance to see our country as the world wishes to see us. By taking a long look and clarifying their hope we can renew our own direction and destiny.