Hope, Faith, Vision, Service
As many others will be doing in the coming hours and days, I felt compelled to post on the transition our country ceremoniously began this morning. I came late to the party, as it were, prior to the election, only focusing at the very end of the campaign trail on what was being said by the candidates- and I was astonished by the message of hope that now President Obama was sharing with his countrymen. It struck a chord in me that I had honestly forgotten- the call to serve rather than be served, to hold each other up and to hold each other accountable, to strive for a vision of ourselves and our country that many of us have forgotten in the glitz of prosperity and self service.
Regardless of the lean and frightful times and all it's repercussions, I know the message would still ring loud and clear, but it has to have been amplified for us all amidst the world we see around us. I listened again yesterday to MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech, in full, and heard with new ears as a father the desire for something better for my children. I heard that again today in the President's call to action, to acceptance and love for one another and in the vision to restore the positive ideals of our nation. To be a beacon and an example, a city on the hill rather than a brutish, spoiled teenager. To affirm to our enemies, who are not swayed by our hope and our speeches, that amidst our newly rediscovered sense of self the iron core of our resolve is no less solid.
As I said to Shannon when President Obama was merely a candidate, even if the realities of Washington slow the pace of change or attempt to stall it entirely, the mere fact that someone is willing to say what no one has said, to take a stand as a leader and assert their positive picture of an America that can be more than it has settled for, then his and our efforts are not in vain. Hope, or the restoration thereof, has always been at the core of any great social change. And more than ever, I am fully confident and aware that no single person can make that change, but by instilling hope and faith in the multitudes, we as a people can affect a change to the world at large the likes of which we could only dream.
Regardless of the lean and frightful times and all it's repercussions, I know the message would still ring loud and clear, but it has to have been amplified for us all amidst the world we see around us. I listened again yesterday to MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech, in full, and heard with new ears as a father the desire for something better for my children. I heard that again today in the President's call to action, to acceptance and love for one another and in the vision to restore the positive ideals of our nation. To be a beacon and an example, a city on the hill rather than a brutish, spoiled teenager. To affirm to our enemies, who are not swayed by our hope and our speeches, that amidst our newly rediscovered sense of self the iron core of our resolve is no less solid.
As I said to Shannon when President Obama was merely a candidate, even if the realities of Washington slow the pace of change or attempt to stall it entirely, the mere fact that someone is willing to say what no one has said, to take a stand as a leader and assert their positive picture of an America that can be more than it has settled for, then his and our efforts are not in vain. Hope, or the restoration thereof, has always been at the core of any great social change. And more than ever, I am fully confident and aware that no single person can make that change, but by instilling hope and faith in the multitudes, we as a people can affect a change to the world at large the likes of which we could only dream.
