Congratulations

Watching the US presidential election from the Middle East has been an eye-opening experience. I had no idea how much everyone here would be interested in the outcome. I heard a range of comments leading up to election day, and I thought I would share some of my favorites:

• "Obama is a Muslim, and Nostradomus predicted that the lion, which is generally understood to be the US, would fall at the hand of Muslim--this could be very bad." I informed my coworker that Obama was actually a Christian, though perhaps an extremist Christian. She felt better.
  
• "Even if Obama wins, if they don't want him, they will just kill him. That's what they do here. That's what happened with Princess Diana. She was pregnant, you know. They killed other presidents they don't like. Didn't you study American history? You should know." Oh boy--a conspiracy theorist. I tried to get her to tell me who "they" were. She couldn't. I tried to explain that there are crazy people who have hated every president ever elected. She was insistent that "they" wouldn't like a black man. I finally gave up.
• "Kimberly, who is going to win the election tomorrow?" My status as American elevated me to a political expert with all of the answers. I answered more questions about how the election worked, how I could vote from halfway across the world, and when the results would be available than I did HR questions.

When Wednesday rolled around, I was greeted at the door by the head of our consumer banking group. "Congratulations Kimberly," he said with a huge smile and a handshake. "Congraluations for what?" I asked, thinking perhaps I had won a contest, received a surprise promotion, or had a baby I knew nothing about. "Congratulations on the election. You have a new president now, aren't you happy?" "But I didn't vote for Obama," I told him. I think I burst his bubble. He had stayed up late into the night to watch the election results on the news. He had listened to Obama's acceptance speech and wanted to discuss what he thought was one of the most powerful addresses he had ever heard. He was shocked and apalled that I hadn't done any more than check the results online before I came in to work.

And I realized that I have been taking my right to vote for granted. I imagine that he would have offered the same congratulations if McCain had won. The fact that I have a say in who governs my country (and also has a huge influence on the rest of the world) is a reason for him to celebrate. Since then, I have had a steady stream of people come to offer their congratulations. I learned my lesson the first time, and now I graciously accept their well wishes. One woman finally asked, "Is it appropriate to congatulate you? We don't know because we can't vote, but we are very excited for you." Yes, I think congratulations are perfectly appropriate.