Expectations. Oh, yeah, we’ve got ’em.
I went out this morning on my daily photo shoot in search of motion subjects. My usual subjects are cars, trucks, trees in the wind, advertising ribbons at car dealers.
This morning while waiting for the 7 o’clock commuter train to whoosh by, I looked up. A flag pole with a flag just slightly moving.
The skies were leaden, rain was lightly falling and the background appeared solid gray. I slowed down my shutter speed to a almost a second.
When I saw this image after I got back home I thought of the Space Shuttle and the election.
I thought of the successful Space Shuttle launches where at some point the booster rockets eject away from the shuttle’s fuel tank and appear to be soaring on their own, but ultimately, (probably only a few seconds in real time), they begin a graceful curve and begin to descend back to earth.
This image of the flag reminds me of those rockets. It boosts, gives the needed extra thrust and gives the shuttle a chance to make the journey, but it is not the journey itself.
This flag appears to be at the exact point where the booster rockets forward thrust elides into graceful descent.
If the election is like the booster rockets, then that means that, We, the People, are now the main power source.
Gulp.
I left this morning expecting motion. I came home feeling like I’d been to a Six Flags amusement park, retching after each ride.
I have to go lie down and resolve not to have any more deep thoughts till I’m 65.
( A year and three months away)
©Pat Coakley 2008
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“the People, are now the main power source”
As it should be. I just hope that people realise that and don’t expect that things will magically fix themselves.
I’ve felt that the Republicans and the Liberal party in my country (during my lifetime at least) have represented the “politics of selfishness”. Who knows? Perhaps now (amongst all the things that need to be remedied), America might finally decide to have fairer health care system.
Mama said there’ll be days like this,
There’ll be days like this my Mama said
so I don’t worry cause
Mama said there’ll be days like this,
There’ll be days like this Mama said
(mama said mama said)
i’ve been unable to get this song outta my head all day ha ha
Razz: the expectations are unbelievable. When I saw all the world’s newspapers celebrating his election, I was totally amazed. He symbolizes aspirations all over the world. But, you know what? All of the exogenous things…the global recession, global warming and the domestic issues of health care, education would all exist if he had not won…but, he did, and it seems one of the ripples is that people near and far feel a little better about themselves and their possibilities…I like that as a starting point to figure the rest of this mess out, don’t you?
Tipota, I remember the original by “The Shirelles”! This was my era…one song after another like this! Van Morrisson’s version is nice, too! Don’t know whether youtube has them or not! Loved your little video of JFK park! So wonderful to be by the ocean on a daily basis. Some days you don’t need it, but on the days you do? Sweet.