The ones we [ha]ve been waiting for...

I don’t often write letters to politicians. And this isn’t even a letter to a politician, it’s addressed to the “web site suggestions” link. But after having wrote it, I figured hey, why not paste it here. If anything it’ll showcase the fact that sometimes, I get waay too wrapped up in the English language.  

Hi. I’m an enthusiastic supporter of Senator Obama here in Texas. I’m also a bit of an armchair poet. Senator Obama’s line in his February 5 speech, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for,” was amazing. It gave me chills. Having said that, it’s transcribed wrong on the site. Instead of “we’ve,” it’s “we have.” I know it doesn’t seem like a big change, but it changes the whole tone of the line. As delivered, it’s dactylic trimeter. Say it out loud:

“We are the Ones we’ve been Waiting for.”
Long-short-short-Long-short-short-Long-short-short.

And you know it’s not just happenstance, because he followed it up with

“We are the Change that we seek.”
Long-short-short-Long-short-short-Long

I admit, I feel kind of silly writing such a long email over this, when you probably have bigger inquiries coming in these days. But that line moved me, deeply, and I feel as though its poignancy was enhanced by the meter — so much so that I’ve been writing the phrase on napkins, leaving them on tables in cafés citywide.

Anyway, thank you for your time. The web site is amazing. And trust me, y’all have some serious supporters in Texas.

- Jose Castillo
San Antonio / Austin, Texas