Change at last, Change at last, Thank God Almighty Change at last

I have to say, even though I was a proponent of change and voted for Obama, I had my doubts as to what those changes would be. Then, not 30 minutes after the announcement that he would win the election, I saw something we sure as hell haven't seen under our current administration.
The footage came in from around the world. People were excited and curious about the results of our election. For the first time since 2000, I saw people jumping up and down holding our flag, instead of people holding our flag down and jumping on it. I think people realize we will have a president who will do more to unite a world than divide it. I will honestly admit that I cried when I saw those scenes. I have not been proud of our policies as of late and have lost some faith in our ability to set an example in the world. The influential folks surrounding our current president are from the cold-war era who think occupation and intimidation are the ways to security. I think we will see a change to diplomacy and I also think we now have the opportunity to regain our spot as stewards of peace. I think that was Bush's goal all along, but you can't bring peace through war. I don't care what the rationale behind it is, I don't believe peace comes through military action.
I am not saying military action is never necessary. It should be used in defense to a nation's immediate and imminent threats. I think a nation should look very carefully at their target and seriously consider whether or not the target is a true threat. A military should be used to free people from tyrants and opressors only if the people ask for that action. Why are we not fighting in Darfur if we are out to only liberate and protect innocent people.
Be proud to be an American once again. It's not a bad thing. But realize your role in the world. We are not better than any other country or nationality, yet we do carry great influence and we should be very observant of how we use that influence.