look i guess any responses to this are marked by who we are, what we believe in, the position from which we speak and the experiences of our lives - our respective life philosphies. we all have that, in whatever way, shape or form. to imagine that you dont is to have one actually. all of this will obviously influence how we relate to this moment. with what little that i know of the intricacies, and i dont know much by way of the kind of detail that gives way to what is described as informed opinion or debate, though sometimes i wonder if the experts know any better. what summarises it for me is 'i cant believe my eyes', i couldnt believe my eyes.
and if one man can have close to the entire world stop, look and listen, in so singular a fashion then i am in awe.
and so unable to speak on what i dont know i will only say what i do, from where i stand, with my particular worldview.
i dont know what it takes to make a complete overhaul of a system you had nothing to do with creating, one that outdates you. i know that he has inherited a mess. i dont know how he will fair in his tasks as outlined by the needs of his land and his people. i dont know how many people never thought theyd actually even ever see the day. i dont know how many of them didnt. i know that his people voted him the best man for the job. i do know that he is a person, like any other leader, anywhere. and that any scrutiny applied to him should be one that remains consistent and across the board, to focus so on just him almost sets him up for failure. all president of the west as he is. precisely because his message is different. ofourse he isnt perfect, but who can claim it. thats a given that. he is going to fail in certain aspects of his reach. my hope, in turn, is that he will receive the support he needs to atleast try. but i know that something will change. has changed already. i know that something will get done, not all, but something and maybe sometimes thats all that matters. all he says, by way of his own beginning is, it can be done. it offers a beginning.
of what ive seen and experienced of change or any attempts at it. i know that cynicism is easy, is widespread, is justified - its what we know. but in any moment dating back years, centuries perhaps, cynicism has had to have been met with a kind of irrational ambitious belief. seemingly unfounded and idealistic. at each of those junctures, nobody believed, nobody could believe. so many things would still be the same, in so many places. the messages that came in those moments made no sense in their times. had no proof. borne in the lines of an impa**ioned rhetoric. and perhaps still even with time, some arent seen as having done anything. ever questionable.
there was a time when i couldn’t believe it. when i couldn’t find it in me to believe it, when i couldnt bare to be swept up in this tide because it was so ridiculous. but this is who this person is and lets not forget that. you had to have been a person who knew what they were doing. he did it. just this. just that at that place already where i was ready to waiver. a relative unknown with not only practical odds against him but the odds of history. he did it. an act of such force, of will, that it empowers just in its observing. there are stories of those who tried. i respect him for accomplishing it in so fine a fashion. i guess then this is the position from which i see obama. as the individual, the man. this person who said this is what he was going to do and went out and finished it. i dont know what it took, may never know what kind of fiddling, manipulating and rearranging of circumstance that takes. i do know that by the end of it i couldnt believe my eyes.
i cannot comment on his role as president of the united states of america. he is an american president and that is fact. their votes, their choice, their system. he is obliged to them first. he is, and that’s no sin. that’s his job. thats what he signed up for. i cannot comment on what he will or wont do for the world. or should. i can only look upon him and be forced to look upon my own leaders in my own land and ask questions that force us to answer in some changes of our own. i look upon myself. to me this is who obama is. lets not expect or demand of people what we owe ourselves.
the example set here is one of the possibilities of change. fullstop.
within all the calls for pragmatism, more than anything else this moment was about this. in the lives of african americans, in the lives of black people all over the world, in the lives of anyone who has and does want better. who struggles to see it, who has lost faith in it, who believes they dont possess the capacity to effect it. this is a moment that has tilted the frame of reference. and i believe that that is what he will have given to the world. relatively i think he’s done what he needed to do, well for me. he has already done what he needed to do. so its from a very simplistic place that i speak from. he has already done something humungous. that will echo and reverberate into time whether we are there or not. sometimes in a world of an obsession with tangibles and measurables i sometimes feel like we underestimate the value and importance of speaking into the hearts and minds of people. the work will never be done by one person, it can never be – it should never. we should never pin our hopes on a person and thereby exonerate ourselves from a certain responsibility. what we should do is be inspired. its that simple. we should be drawing from ‘the audacity of hope’ as he puts it, taking it and building and contributing, in a manner that ensures that the feeling begins to determine choices made in regard to what it takes to build a country. that involves everybody in all spheres. or we can just stick around and wait for the scorecard and miss part of the point that is here with us already.
and the fibre of the person must count for something. the character of the man. just in who he is. who he is is already a difference. and that has to make a difference.
i believe that i do and will thank obama and his family for showing me something else of the black face. for the sight of those two little black girls standing beside their father at such an inconceivable moment. i will thank him for showing me a healthy relationship between a black man and a black woman, for being a man who not only loves his woman but openly shares of his respect and admiration for her in her own right. between the two of them, whether consciously or by default, they have not only contributed to the upliftment of black people in general, in redefining the perimeters of dreams and reflections, theyve represented for their respective sexes within the stereotypes and struggles that take place within the relationship between black man and black woman. theyve shown people something different. a man who wasnt afraid to choose a woman of such calibre, michelle obama mustnt be too far behind in discussions on barack. that woman is amazing. and shes played her part. and will continue to do so i imagine.
so yes, we can. as i interpreted it until someone kindly pointed it out as: yes, we, can. broken down and combined in three words as affirmation of positivity. and the strength it requires. makes you want to be part of that 'we' doesnt it.
in our prudence let us not be so quick to anticipate, that we take away from now. now is important. now is what we do know for sure and it comes with its own gifts. right now is what is new.
breathe it in.
