"A paradise of peace..." ~ Jane Eyre

Vignettes From Election Night:

It is toward the early hours of projections and we are taking a short nap in his bed as CNN anchor voices fill the room with anticipation of a win, sounding like a melodic lullaby. The Prince's eyes are closed as I run my fingers through his thick, dark hair. For the first time in a long time, there is finally a calm in our breaths. Maybe we wont have to worry about our future together as much as we have been, fearing the worst for the economy and the quality of living in a tainted America. Perhaps tonight we, too, can win back our daydreams and make them a reality once more - a home, vacations to India, sending the children to Ivies. I close my eyes and continue to run my fingers through his hair and think about the lyric's from Springsteen's "No Surrender." - I want to sleep beneath peaceful skies in my lover's bed, with a wide open country in my eyes and these romantic dreams in my head - Later on that night I feel salt on my lips as I lick my tears and fall asleep with wet eyes...happy, alive, and grateful to sleep well once again. I think about my Prince and my love for him and his ideals, and how much we have shared during this election together and how integrated it is in our relationship. There is no one else I love discussing politics more with.

He calls her is rock, his best friend, and the love of his life. She emerges in red, the color of passion she has for him, her girls, her country, her belief in dreams. I watch them kiss and her whisper "I love you" into his ear, and they are able to steal a private moment together among millions of people watching - for no one can ever really surmise the true depths of their passion. I envision them at the end of the evening going home and closing the door to a world that is celebrating, lying in their own bed together, perhaps he running his fingers through her hair as they daydream about their future. It will not be easy for them, for now they have the burdens left to them from the horrible regime of eight years that has decimated so much. What has not been decimated is love - on all levels. Love of country, love of dreams becoming reality, love of partners in life. And because of that love, they, too, will sleep in each others arms with romantic dreams in their heads.

And tonight (or rather, these early hours of the morning), a man of mixed race is President of the United States, proving that America is capable of practicing the ideals it is founded on. One day mine and the Prince's children, who will be of mixed race, can look at this man and know that anything is possible in this beautiful country.

"To cheat me..." ~ Jane Eyre


In the novel Jane Eyre, Jane leaves Rochester as soon as she learns his mad wife resides in the attic and refuses to run away with him after their wedding is ruined because of this discovery. Yes, what makes Jane a noble character is her sense of what is right, but what also makes her noble is her self-respect and pride in herself. When she leaves him, she loses everything but her self-love. In the end, she knew that was the most important possession to own.

I am aware that I have alluded to politics here at Eyre Affairs. It is not a subject I usually speak of, for it is a very private matter. As much as I elaborate on my life, there is so much, dear readers, that shall and always will remain private. Still, I brought up the election recently. I have indicated my support for Barack Obama, and some people have questioned why I do not support Hillary Clinton. The answer? Just call it female intuition.

Martin Luther King Jr. emphasized judging a person by the content of his/her character. Now, I have done my research on the candidates, and I have spent hours and hours learning about Barack Obama from his books to articles in The New Yorker to pieces on him on NPR. Until others do the same, I ask that comments about him be refrained until you educate yourself. I have concluded he is of excellent character; not perfect, but a good man who made choices in life without ever compromising his self respect.

I think that Hillary Clinton is a good woman and a smart woman. What I do not find her to be is a strong woman. I do not find it noble that she has made herself a doormat to get to where she is today. Her husband is a repeated adulterer, and if I had a young daughter, I would be concerned about Hillary Clinton as a role model. Your president is complacent to stay in a marriage where she has been emotionally abused by her husband not once, but many times. He has put his own child through pain and has made her endure humiliation in addition to Hillary's. Some may argue she is strong for keeping her family together, but I disagree. Her weakness is her ego, and she stays in a marriage that is a sham, much like what a marriage between Jane and Rochester would have been if Jane didnt stand up for her own self preservation.

Am I supposed to admire her for putting this country above her own well being? I cannot. I cannot admire her for putting aside her self respect and compromising her happiness. If we are not good to ourselves, we cannot be good to others. She spoke on the subject and said she did what was right for her. If that was right for her, than she is the wrong person to lead this nation. What he did was quintessentially wrong, and her continuance to keep him in her life makes me uneasy. And, sadly, perhaps I would be more apt to like her if she was divorced. Well, not perhaps - I most certainly would. She would then have proven that she takes shit from no one, and I admire that in a leader, and in a fictional heroine.

Oh there are other reasons. She is smug all of the time, she has skeletons in her closest that the GOP cant wait to bring out. She loves pointing fingers at other political parties but never admits the faults of those in her own party. I dont like that she piggybacked my state to get her where she is now, and I fear that she is embedded in so many political entanglements that her cabinet would be made up of all those she owed favors to.

If there is one thing I have learned as a woman who just turned thirty, it is to never compromise myself. I shall not and will not support any woman that is a repeat offender of placing her needs, wants, and desires of her soul in the trashbin and taking garbage over and over from the man who vowed to love her his entire life. She would be a hero if she left him, as Jane Eyre leaves Rochester. Instead, she becomes an antagonist to me - I look at her and see a compromised soul with tainted character. I wish Hillary Clinton would reread Jane Eyre, for she could learn a lot from such a heroine.