Remember

Farringdon, London - 5 November 2008

"There are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidence"
V for Vendetta.

"Remember, remember, the 5th of November"

I fell asleep sometime between midnight and dawn with the TV on, with pictures of Jesse Jackson and countless others with red eyes being beamed across countless channels. The last things I remember were the two quotes I've started this post with, both strangely contextual (that's for you big C).

On the train in this morning I saw countless noses in papers; rows of identical headlines as if I was witnessing a perfectly orchestrated propaganda video. The echoes and cheers of an impassioned address resonated from people's computers. Some of the most politcally (and generally for that matter) apathetic people I know were ecstatic and full of pride. Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Friendfeed (they were the only ones I checked) were (and still are) overflowing with messages of hope, change and other wonderfully abstract things that if this were a film (and it will be one day), would be unabashedly cliched - but no one seemed to care, or even notice. There was pith of course, but I suspect even that was bathed in the afterglow of euphoria.

I passed through a conversation between two gentlemen who looked and sounded like they'd come straight from the set of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels talk of uncharacteristic emotion; "I never cry, I do" I heard. I suspect many upper lips quivered today. Mine did.

We obviously have no idea of knowing how the world we live in will change tomorrow. But I'll always remember the way this feels, as if something I can only describe as 'humanity' is being poured through our veins. As if we are being reminded that we are more than we think we are.

I think we all will.