An Introduction....and Obama.

Okay, I've decided to give blogging another shot. I have tried before and for this reason and that one, I have not managed to stick with it consistently. Of course I could say that this time will be different, but then again that's what they all say, you know? But there are several reasons why I believe that this time will actually in fact be different. One reason is that my life situation is a bit more stable than before. It is downright routine these days. Not having a "crazypants" to deal with every day certainly stablilizes things.

Another reason is that I have this mostly unexpressed need to express myself in writing. When I don't do it, I feel unfulfilled no matter what else I may be doing. I find myself carrying on an uncounscious narration about everything that goes on in my life. It's as if I cannot believe people can properly understand my true essence unless I write it down. The flip side of that is that it is more than a little scary for people to understand my true essence. It is sort of like being psychically naked if people know my true opinions and thoughts on certain subjects, especially as I suspect that my opinions on some subjects are not the ones shared by the majority.

But in any case, the mission statement for this blog boils down to this: It is Charlie Parramore's attempt to express himself truly and honestly and in so doing, examine the sundry topics in life I find most interesting. I want to do more than write about them casually. I want to examine them to the core. I want to turn over the moss-covered stone deep in the forest and examine the lichen on the bottom of it in infinite detail. I want this blog to be the window through which I view the world and if anyone happens to read my words, the window through which the world sees me most clearly and honestly.

I have decided to promise myself only one blog posting a week. If it happens to be more than that, then so much the better, but if not, I'm not going to beat myself up about it. I hope that in this way I will not crush myelf under the weight of my own expectations.

With this introduction now stated, let's get a few basic facts about myself out in the open: I am thirty-six years old. I currently live alone. I am blessedly single again although impatiently waiting the paper that proves it to come in the mail. I have a girlfriend that I'm totally in love with and very happy about it. I work as a mental health counselor at Valdosta State Prison. If nothing else, it is a unique way to earn a paycheck. I suppose readers will have to learn more details about me as we go along.

So those are the preliminaries out of the way.

I feel led tonight to write a few words about how I personally feel about the election of Barack Obama. In my life I have been interested in politics on a sporadic basis. I've always had a keen interest in the goings on of the world, but have never felt as galvanized by a political event as I was by this election. In past Presidential elections, I might have liked one candidate or the other, but was always kind of luke-warm about the one I did prefer, and felt that I would be affected very little on a personal basis whoever won. However, in this election, I felt passionate about Obama. I first heard of him after his fateful speech at the Democratic Convention in 2004 and read his book, The Audacity of Hope well before he ran for President. I have never felt that I identified with a political candidate's ideas and world-view as closely as I did Obama's. Something about the way he spoke and wrote connected with me.

I do think that society as well as people in general should be wary of someone who projects charisma as it is common characteristic of many dictators and cult-leaders, but even though Obama possesses charisma in spades, it also seems abundantly obvious that he is also a very decent and honorable man. This fact is proved best of all in how he ran his campain. While the McCain campaign attempted to blaspheme Obama's character with outlandish and baseless claims that he cavorted with terrorists and radicals, Obama remained above the pettiness, attacking McCain on the issues alone, remaining cool and unflappable to the very end. There was little doubt which candidate embodied the ideals of what a President should be and thuse he was elected.

There is no way to know what the next four or eight years holds for the country and for Obama's Presidency, but I have to believe that the fact that his campaign and election invoked so much passion and inspired so many people that it has to give him a positive boost that no other President in recent memory has had.

I am just glad that I have grown open-minded enough over the course of my life to appreciate what he stands for. There might have been a time when my upbringing and the influence of my environment might have prevented me from appreciating Obama and what he means to our country as well as how we are perceived around the world. The President-Elect certainly has a plate-ful of problems to deal with and ample opportunity to prove himself. I suppose we shall all see what happens now.