Change has come

We are nearly a week into the historic Obama administration.  It’s been documented numerous times over the past several weeks, the people who never thought they would see America elect a black man as President. I’m sure my Grandpa Jim, if he were alive, would be tickled to death and so incredibly proud that Obama ran such an efficient and nearly flawless campaign.  

I was especially moved by how Obama’s campaign engaged a cross-section of people, especially young people. I will never forget talking to my cousin in Dayton, OH and learning about how she took the time to education the friends of her three adult sons, telling them how their vote counted; how she insisted they become registered voters; and how she insisted they commit themselves to voting on election day. My cousin was among so many others working hard to ensure the Buckeye State did not become the center of controversy as it did in 2004 when Ohio went the way of Republicans and helped put George W. Bush in the White House another four years.

I was equally impressed with how engaged my 32-year old son was during the campaign season. On a visit to his home in FL during the primaries, I got up one Saturday morning thinking he would be watching ESPN Sports Center as he normally did. I was pleasantly surprised that we were watching CNN and talking amongst ourselves about Obama’s leadership style, how he would defeat Hillary Clinton in the primaries and so on.

Just recently, my son and I exchanged email about the new face of leadership and how Obama has inspired so many to become involved in the movement to change America. The following is an excerpt of that email in which he wrote:

I have been watching & listening to Obama since January 2008. At first I only supported the obvious; a black man running for president. My infatuation with him was superficial as I was unaware of the enormous responsibilities & challenges awaiting our next president. Not wanting to be led blindly, I started to educate myself on the political process, the functions of our government and the complexity of the issues involving our country. As I became more cognizant his message made more sense and the fundamental reason for my support of him flip flopped. I became increasingly proud to support, not the black candidate, but the best candidate who happened to be black.

 

Once I had enough information to form an intelligent opinion I started to listen to those who opposed his views and his candidacy. And the one thing that I noticed most was that the opposition wasn’t offering any new ideas of their own or any ideas that made sense for that matter. When their backs were against the wall they resorted to polarizing tactics that only made things worse. This further solidified my support for Obama and made me anxious to get involved in the political process. It even led me to read psychology books in order to better understand the foolishness and why people believed it. It is okay to have principles and values to believe in as a person or a family, but to believe that those principles and values are absolute when governing a country is just plain ignorant. And what’s worse is packaging that notion within a sleazy political campaign and propaganda, trying to get at our subconscious and get enough of the peripheral electorate to steal an election.

 Obama has paved the road for the next minority or woman who has the desire to embark on such a quest as the President of the United States.

 Now that Mr. Obama has been elected we must begin to ask ourselves: What are we going to do to be leaders of change in our socieity? It can be something as simple as  changing our attitude and approach towards life. Or we can begin by changing how we seek to resolve problems in our lives. There are so many small ways in which we can lead the effort to implement change in our society and it might mean simply making our own little world different than it was before.

 As we contemplate our role in the change movement, I am reminded of the words of Mahatma Gandhi, whose teachings of non-violence were such an inspiration to civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”