Presidential victory for Obama.

Yesterday, Barack Obama became the president elect of the United States of America.
For many, this is hailed as a milestone in the history of America, a landmark in the country's progression. But for some like myself, the impact did not really hit until I was flooded with news that talk about this being a historic day. Perhaps I am not an American. Perhaps, I am not African-American, or black for that matter. Perhaps, I am not a Democrat. I am only a bystander living in the United States at the moment.

The important lesson reinforced yesterday to me was that at the point of change, change may not be obvious. At a grand and historic moment in history, the people living in it may feel nothing special or nothing comparable to what history lessons of the future may portray it to be. Unless perhaps you are in the actual heat of it all be it a trader in Wall Street when the economic crisis hits, a mid-range supervisor in a prestigious bank when it collapses, or an African American who has lived through the times when they were not given equal rights as whites up to the time when an African America takes office in arguably the same and most powerful and influential nation in the world.

In the future, with the benefit of hindsight and lacking the benefit of actual experiencing of the moment, causes will undoubtedly be assigned to explain the unfolding of certain events. Analysis of some sort will reveal why the economy took a downturn. Sometimes, these occurrences will then be said to have been inevitable, or obvious in the coming. But who can really foresee the future. The fog of war is the same fog of the future. When you are living in a moment, nothing really is apparent. The linking of causes to effects are not so casual. Perhaps we are blinded and unable to see the big picture at the time. Or perhaps, the causes and effects being linked together is a far more complicated thing, maybe even one out of a hundred possible and equally credible cause and effect relationship, and that in hindsight a specific cause and effect gains popularity for any form of reasons and also undergoes simplification.

For classification is simplification. And we need to classify. When I say "Boston Terrier", one can imagine a Boston Terrier probably not by the words itself or the sound, but the image it brings to one's mind. Depending on one's exposure thus far, one will see a Boston Terrier in many ways. Language is a code and accuracy of transmission from one mental image of one person to another requires both parties to have the same version of encrypting and decrypting tools. And, even in elementary school, we learn Classification. The world is classified. Jeans and shirts...they are clothings. Cars and Computers....Hmm....well, shall we classify them as things that start with C? No, probably we will prefer to classify them as Machinery. But classification is only useful for some times and should not be overemphasized. Cars and computers are quite different things. Classification nonetheless helps us speed up our thoughts for useful purposes in the world. Similar for stereotypes. And Obama's presidency will be seen along side other winnings of the presidency. Causes are needed. Direct links are needed. We need to explain our world. And rightly so, though it will blur out finer details. Different offee may appear all the same to many of us but to an expert, they are very very different.

It is like the "scaling" properties of things. A rock looks like a rock. A bunch of rocks together making a big rock, like one in the badlands, from far looks just like that first rock. Take that first rock, look at it under a microscope, and it is made of tiny similar rocks. To see the big picture is to flatten things out.

What does Obama's winning (assuming the electoral college voting goes as expected without more than 70 or so faithless electors), mean? Let's hope he really means change, and that he really brings about change, in a good way...good for those who want change and good for those who don't need change. The next two years, I hope, will be an exciting time for me to watch from Boston.