October 31, 2004

The election has left me, as well as others, depressed. I've been irrationally expecting to be denied my right to vote in the polling place that I have been going to since we moved into NodedNorth twenty years ago. Part of the problem is that I have not been able to resolve how different the beliefs of the people of these United States seem to be.

Then I received this week’s New Yorker Magazine. In it was the last portfolio of the late Richard Avedon, his Democracy portfolio. I have looked through the pictures several times each day and marveled. The pictures gave me hope. Gave me a chance to see fellow Americans and realize that we are all just humans. How beautiful those people are. It is truly amazing how the details of the souls of these people have been portrayed by Richard Avedon. I now see how we are so much alike and so different at the same time.

Unfortunately, Mr. Avedon passed away before completing the portfolio. I really want to thank him for the portfolio because it gave back this country to me. He made me realize that there are a lot of people like me who will not stand for our rights being usurped by a few greedy people, by a few misguided people that think that we need to be protected from our selves. I see it in the eyes of the people he photographed. I see that we the people are the reason that this country is great.