Today's the day

Today’s the day the world has been waiting for. The day the new president of the United States is elected. I’m anti-Bush (big surprise!), so I do hope Kerry will win. Not that I believe the Democrats are so much better than the Republicans, but everything’s better than another four years with the Bush administration. Hopefully Kerry will be able to restore some of the bridges Bush has destroyed and better the relationships with the rest of the world. And as Kerry has been in a war himself, and thus understands every aspect of it, I find him more capable to decide about a war situation than someone who has never experienced the harsh reality of war.

Today’s the day the American people can show the world they aren’t as dumb and ignorant as the world may think they are. Hopefully they do, because I fear Americans will become even less popular and less understood by the rest of the world if they choose Bush today. Not that most of them care about what the rest of the world thinks…. (I’m talking in generalizations of course. I do know not everyone in the States has this view, but if there are enough of them, we’re stuck with Bush for another four years.)

Today is also the day Theo van Gogh (a Dutch director, television maker and columnist) was murdered on the streets of Amsterdam. I didn’t particularly like or dislike him, but I’m still bewildered and shocked. What is our Dutch society turning in to? A society where you can just kill someone that pronounces an opinion you do not agree with? A society where the freedom of speech can get you killed? It scares and upsets me, because that’s not the kind of society I want to be a part of.