Change

So despite my last post, I am hopeful for the future, because ultimately, it is in our hands. If we want to do good badly enough, if we're willing to make sacrifices for true happiness, than we will.

At work the last few months I've been running, or trying to run a hot topic discussion group. The first meeting had a decent turnout of about 5 people, it was just a planning meeting, but the following month I had 1 tenant for the locally foods conversation, needless to say we had a lot of extra pizza. I asked my boss for one more chance, thinking that maybe the topic was not that great. For December I decided to lead a discussion on Obama and Race Relations, I was a little nervous thinking the coversation might turn into a debate and get out of hand, but I thought it might draw a bigger crowd than the former meeting so I figured I would give it a go.

I decided to wise up, to purchase just one pizza and make a whopping 5 copies of the reading materials to avoid all the extra paper from the prior meetings. So the day finally came and I go to the conference room where the meeting was to be held and a couple people come strolling in, I realized I forgot the sign in sheet so I went back to my office to retrieve it and when I returned there were 7 people in the room! I was so excited, but realized there wasn't enough lunch and I had to make more copies. I went to make more copies of the article and when I returned, the whole room was full and we had run out of chairs! No one seemed to mind that we ran out of food, and everyone got really into the conversation (respectfully too). One tenant was in tears when she talked about the election and that the victory was two fold, one for the long road that blacks have travelled in the US in terms of civil rights, and the other the promise of a qualified, and dedicated individual to office. We talked about how some blacks undoubtably voted for Obama purely on the fact that he's part African American, but we also talked about how there were many that many whites voted for McCain based soley on his color. The conversation really got me thinking about how much progress our country has made, and I honestly cannot believe that I have lived to see this election. It is a real testament to the fact that there are people out there that live their lives in relation to others based on who that person actually is and what they stand for and not just by the color of their skin. In the conversation, we talked about how Obama identified himself as a presidential candidate who happened to be black, and not a black man running for president. He made his color not matter in the election, and hopefully this country can use that as an example to live by. In my opinion, the only way for true equality is to have a colorless society, so instead of identifying with a particular group or cause, Obama identifies with everyone, something that we could all benefit from trying to do.

Anyway, I was inspired to write a short article for the tenant newsletter on the Inauguration and MLK day, here it is:

On January 20, 2009, the great nation of the United States will have met a pivotal moment in History. Aside from the hope that abounds out of a fresh face in the oval office, Barrack Obama’s climb to the top serves as a symbol of change and progress in American society. The election of a black President is something that many thought would never be actualized in their lifetime, but a right that has been fought for by countless for years. Equality, as Dr. Martin Luther King petitioned for in the 1960s was a vision for King who stated: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Have we met this moment in time? Has the struggle for equality in the U.S. finally come to a peaceful end?
This January as we celebrate both the Inauguration of Barrack Obama on January 20th and the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on January 19th, we will be reminded of the long, turbulent journey of the past, celebrate the present, and hope for the future.