History will never be the same…
During a conversation I was having with my DC host Lucero (shout out girl ☺ thank you again for welcoming us into your home)… she looked at my daughter and talked about the ways my daughter has been shaped by the politics of the Bush government over the past 8 years… and it got me thinking… about “The Remaking of America”
I watched along with 2 million of my closest friends - - standing in the mall of DC, with freezing temperatures as Barack Obama became our president…
I watched as the senate took their seats, members of congress, governors, past president’s… high profile politicians… CELEBRITIES… (I’m not EVEN going to touch that)… I watched our SECRETARY OF STATE Hillary Clinton and her husband Bill ☺ as they took their seats, continued watching as the little first ladies (the Obama girls) and their mom, First Lady, Michelle Obama ☺ took their seats…
we waited and waited… and waited… and waited some more…for the precession of cars - - for HIS car to arrive… to see him enter… to catch a glimpse of what HE looked like right before taking center stage… and finally HE does arrive… and I noticed something…
He is NOT the man he once was…
He is NOT the man from before…
His transformation was incredibly visible…
There was a moment… when he was walking through the halls of the state capital and down the stairs to where he would be exiting to greet us - - but what I noticed was while he was on the stairs – I caught him close his eyes (almost as if for a silent prayer) and in that moment I froze… I had to breathe because that moment was powerful – I could feel it… this was no longer the man that caught my attention during the democratic convention keynote address from years ago… the speech that he gave during the Kerry campaign… where I was hooked by his words… that moment where HE changed the way I saw politicians. This was the man I would believe in instantly. He impressed me so much that I wanted to meet him… I wanted to interview him… and I did meet him…
When my daughter and I met him in 2006 his hair was a little darker… his face a little brighter… filled with youth and energy~ the man I saw yesterday has aged… not just that his grays are very noticeable… what I noticed was what time has done to him… I could see added wisdom that only experience, responsibility and hard work have brought him… I could see the price and rewards that come with HOPE~
I have hope that my daughter is going to grow up in the AMERICA my parents dreamt of for themselves, for my siblings and i.)
The man I saw standing on the top of the stairs – as he walked down… sent me a personal message in the silence of his prayers…
He told me the following:
“ALICIA~ you see me standing here? If I can DO THIS… there is nothing you can’t do! “
He went on…
“LOOK AT ME!”
“This moment… This precise moment… as I am walking down these stairs… as I am about to take on the role as the leader of this nation… the most powerful black man… in these United States… with my mom to my right, my grandmother to my left, my father, MLK, Malcolm and our ancestors who are present and blessing this very moment… I - - a man who doesn’t come from a political family with a famous last name…”
“I am you… we are ONE~”
“What I’ve done… What I am about to do… proves that anything is possible…”
“I stand here… thanking GOD for my many blessings… for bringing me to this place… for guiding and protecting me…”
The last thing he said to me was, “ALICIA, YEAH I AM NERVOUS… YES I GET NERVOUS… BUT WHAT I DO KNOW IS THAT - - I CAN DO THIS… I AM READY… I WAS BORN TO DO THIS… AND I ACCEPT”
He closed with - - “If I can do this… SO CAN YOU~”
YES WE CAN~
And then he stepped out to greet us ALL… those of us who joined him in DC, along with his family and friends, and with those who watched from their TV’s all across America and all over the world.
THIS MOMENT… isn’t just HISTORY being made…
This isn’t just HIS story…
This is OUR story…
I’ve heard some people say that they weren’t really impressed with his speech… some people wanted him to drive more points… some compared it to presidential speeches of the past… I disagree – I believe that he’s just READY to start working… F all the BS… he’s ready to do THIS… yes he has spoken more eloquently in so many other speeches… but seriously… he’s ready… and so are we… he has already laid out a plan - - he’s already made his points clear… and he delivered very CLEAR messages yesterday…
Here are just some of ALICIA’s favorite quotes from President Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address:
“In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less.
It has not been the path for the faint-hearted, for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame.
Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life. For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West, endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.
For us, they fought and died… “
“This is the journey we continue today…”
“Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.”
“All this we can do. All this we will do.”
“Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short, for they have forgotten what this country has already done, what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose and necessity to courage.
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long, no longer apply.”
“But this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control. The nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.”
“And so, to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more.”
“They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use. Our security emanates from the justness of our cause; the force of our example; the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.”
“To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.”
“To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict or blame their society's ills on the West, know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.”
“And yet, at this moment, a moment that will define a generation, it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.
For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies.”
“It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break; the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours.
It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.”
“Our challenges may be new, the instruments with which we meet them may be new, but those values upon which our success depends, honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old.
These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history.”
“What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character than giving our all to a difficult task.
This is the source of our confidence: the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny. “
HE IS A TESTAMENT TO THIS… I DON’T THINK HE PLANNED TO BEPRESIDENT… BUT IT WAS ALWAYS PART OF THE PLAN…
“This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed, why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall. And why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.”
“At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:
“"Let it be told to the future world that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet it."”
COME FORTH TO MEET IT…
Like I said to my new friend Lucero… I am no longer concerned with how the past 8 years might have molded my daughter… those 8 years are GONE… and I AM FILLED WITH HOPE~ I believe that the next 8 years are going to be the best years of her life… I believe she will live in an America that will become all we’ve wished for…
I believe that the future for my daughter is bright and will NOW be shaped under a politics based on HOPE…
Based on the AUDACITY OF HOPE…
Based on following her dreams…FOLLOWING THROUGH with unwavering faith…
Based on her strength… and perseverance…
Based on spiritual beliefs and universal law…
Based on truth…
Based on love…
That’s my hope~
Peace~
