Yes we can. Yes we did. Yes we will.

Someday, in the future, I get to sit my children, and eventually grandchildren, down and say, "Kids, let me tell you about when I saw the world change. When I saw progress happen that once seemed impossible. In a nation that has its problems with hate and oppression, we as a people saw the possibility for change, unity, and a better tomorrow, and said 'Yes, We Can'."

Yes, We Can.

Yes, We DID.

Never before, since I have truly understood what it meant, have I been able to say I am proud to be an American. Last night, when the polls on the west coast closed, I was able to. I was half a world away and I witnessed my country change; I witnessed the world change. Disbelief, shock, excitement, joy, and most of all hope swelled up in me. Barack Obama was President Elect.

Don't get me wrong, I am grateful for the opportunities that I have received from being an American, but the pride was never there. It was always different, always a feeling of frustration with how things worked out. That all changed when Obama got 270 Electoral votes. This wasn't just something that I saw, or the people who voted for Obama, but the way world looks at America has changed, the way they feel about America has changed, the votes of the American people did so much good for American foreign policy last night. In all of my travels and all the people I have met I can tell you, without a doubt, that the world is celebrating with us. They are rejoicing at what is seen as, and hoped to be, a gradual change on a large scale, a shift from a unilateral unjustified war. A shift from the assumption of superiority. A shift back to America being a leader in the struggle for human rights, which includes the shut down of Guantanamo Bay and reestablishing the damage done to Civil Liberties. These are hopes that not just the world feels, but many Americans. They showed this with their vote, and this is what has made me so proud.

Obama spoke last night and, as only he can, took this momentous achievement in stride and used it as a moment to unify us. I will not try to paraphrase his words, for they are too perfect to be touched:

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.

It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.

We are, and always will be, the United States of America.

If you missed this speech, please watch it. The entire thing gave me chills, made me so thankful that this all happened, and drove many people I know to tears. He spoke of unity in a way I have only dreamt of, and found a way to make that dream seem achievable. He was honest and eloquent, everything we have come to know and expect of this man. He was the embodiment of change, the change we are all apart of.

This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.

It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.

This has been one of my favorite parts of watching Obama, the beautiful and honest way he has continued his call on all of us take part in this change. This is not something that can happen without you and I, without Joe the Plumber and Hockey Moms. We are, more than ever, a government for the people and by the people. We all have a part in this, and it is our duty to remind ourselves and others that we can be a catalyst for change. That we have been and are a catalyst for change. "And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can."

Change is coming, and we will be a part of it.

Yes, we will.